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Helping Arkansas Health Care Providers Get Connected

HITArkansas, a division of the Arkansas Foundation for Medical Care, is the federally designated Health Information Technology Regional Extension Center (HITREC) for the state of Arkansas. HITArkansas’ purpose is to help health care providers in their use of health information technology by offering guidance, technical assistance and education of financial incentives associated with transitioning to the use of electronic health records (EHRs).



There are now more than 1200 primary care providers working with HITArkansas to implement  EHRs and work towards meeting the required Meaningful Use objectives.  As of December 2011, CMS has paid more than $30 million in EHR incentive payments to eligible providers and hospitals in Arkansas.



Do you know if you are elibigle for the Medicaid or Medicare incentive program? If you are not currently working with HITArkansas, click on the "Apply" tab above and complete the pre-application to receive a complimentary consultation from our team, or contact us for additional information. 

Recent Updates

EHR vendor contracts becoming less provider-friendly - Friday, January 20, 2012

Warning: Be careful before you sign that contract for an electronic health record system. Vendor contracts are becoming more one-sided and difficult, according to EHR consultant Ron Sterling in a blog post on HITECH Answers this week.

Most vendors, according to Sterling, are much larger and more sophisticated than their provider customers; as a result, their contracts are all about protecting the vendors, not the products' users.

"EHR contracts contain an increasing array of complicating structures and dense terms that offer fewer and fewer commitments to your practice," Sterling said.









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Racial disparities reduced through EHR use - Wednesday, January 18, 2012
The use of electronic health records may help to reduce racial disparities in healthcare, according to a study published this week in the Archives of Internal Medicine.

According to researchers, EHRs with clinical decision support are associated with improved blood pressure control both for whites and blacks, and appear to close the gap between the two. The study involved a survey of physicians throughout the country who had examined more than 17,000 patient visits where blood pressure was taken, according to Reuters Health.

When physicians used paper records, 69 percent of blacks and 75 percent of whites were estimated to have their blood pressure under control. When EHRs were used, however, the disparity decreased, with 75 percent of blacks and 78 percent of whites reporting their blood pressure to be under control. read more ...

Why Technology in Health Care - Tuesday, January 10, 2012
Health care is behind other industries by 20 years in utilizing technology to improve quality.  read more ...

HIPAA Audits Move Forward - Tuesday, January 10, 2012
First 20 Organizations Getting Site Visits
It's official: The new HIPAA compliance audit program has begun. The 20 organizations selected for the initial test phase of the program are preparing for site visits in the coming weeks, federal regulators confirm. After that, about 130 more organizations will face audits later this year.

For those who believed that the audits would focus only on larger organizations, security consultant Mac McMillan has some news: That's not the case. McMillan is advising a small Texas hospital that is preparing for a site visit by auditors later this month. "So they're not just going after the big guys," stresses McMillan, CEO of CynergisTek

HITECH Act Mandate
The Department of Health and Human Services' Office for Civil Rights announced the audit program last year. The HITECH Act, part of the economic stimulus package passed in 2009, mandated the audit program to improve compliance with the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act's privacy and security rules
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Todd Park: More can, should be done to capture unique EHR safety issues - Monday, January 09, 2012
As Chief Technology Officer at the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, it's Todd Park's job to be excited about innovation. And, as anyone who's seen him speak live can attest, he takes his job very seriously.

"There has never been a better time to be an innovator at the intersection of IT, data, and health care improvement," Park tells FierceHealthIT in an exclusive interview. "Market incentives are beginning to change in the direction of rewarding innovations that improve health, quality, and efficiency, and information is being liberated at multiple levels to help power these innovations.


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