A 5.0 hour CME-accredited workshop intended for physicians and other healthcare providers who want to learn more about the quality-HIT connection will be held on Friday, Oct. 21, from 9 am to 4 pm at the Oregon Medical Association Headquarters in Portland. Program topics include Health IT and practice workflow redesign as instruments of quality improvement; implementing quality management and reporting through electronic systems; and others.

An EHR “Petting Zoo,” offered by OCHIN/O-HITEC, Oregon’s Regional Extension Center, will also take place at the site that day starting at 8 am. At this event, attendees will have an opportunity to explore and compare O-HITEC’s qualified and certified EHRs. This is a great opportunity for physicians and other practice professionals who are still in the selection phase of implementing HIT to test out products and speak with vendors.
Registration is open to all, and is $169 for OMA members and their staff, and $203 for non-members. Complete course information, including online registration and series discount information, is available online at the OMA website at www.theoma.org/passport.

On Tuesday September 27, 2011, the Oregon Medical Association will begin a three-part workshop series called “Passport to Health IT”. The series is designed specifically for small and medium-sized clinics operating both with and without an EHR. The courses are intended to complement the HITECH Programs, language and organizations in Oregon. Registration information is available at the Oregon Medical Association’s website.

On September 14, 2011, Portland State University’s Center for Public Service and Oregon’s Office of Health Information Technology invite you to attend a groundbreaking conference focused on the promise of electronic health records and health information exchange – AIM 2011: Innovating for Healthy Oregonians. For more information and to register go to AIMOregon.com

Grants will support new health centers in 67 communities, serve additional 286,000 patients

HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius today announced awards of $28.8 million to 67 community health center programs across the country. These funds, made available by the Affordable Care Act, will help to establish new health service delivery sites to care for an additional 286,000 patients. Community health centers work to improve the health of the nation’s underserved communities and vulnerable populations by ensuring access to comprehensive, culturally competent, quality primary health care services.

For more information, click here.

Learning Forum Hotel Reservations

Update on EHR incentives – CMS enrollment and Meaningful Use

Thursday July 14, 2011 from 7:30 – 8:30 AM

Susan Otter, Oregon Health Authority, project director for the Medicaid Health IT Project

Clayton Gillett, Oregon’s Health IT Extension Center, executive director

This will be a co-facilitated interactive update on the State of Oregon’s EHR Incentive Program that will be released later this month. Don’t miss this opportunity to hear the latest information on how to expedite your receipt of federal and state incentive dollars.

Susan Otter, Medicaid HIT Project Director Webinar O-HITEC

Webinar: Eligibility Criteria

Free Health Information Technology Educational Session
Oregon’s Passport to Health IT
Series Kickoff: A Guide for Your Health IT Journey
June 30, 2011

GOT EHR? Up to speed on HIT? Curious about where all this technology is heading? If you have questions about the current state of Health IT (health information technology) in Oregon, are already using an EHR (Electronic Health Record) or want to transition your practice to an EHR, you’ll want to attend a free, 90-minute Health IT educational session hosted by the Oregon Medical Association (OMA) and created with numerous partner organizations.

The event begins at 10:30 am at the OMA’s Portland-area offices and will also be available live on-line to participants. Several community colleges are hosting local live viewings of the seminar on their campus and have identified local Health IT experts who will moderate discussions about the seminar immediately afterwards. Check the registration link below for available locations!

This session is the “series kickoff” for an on-going series of seminars that will help Oregon’s health care providers in their health IT Journey.
“Given the climate of health reform, for which expanding health information technology is a major part, we know Oregon’s health care providers have many questions. This event’s approach is unique because it combines information with action,” according to Carla McKelvey, MD, President of the Oregon Medical Association. She continued to explain, “participants will get a great overview of the state of Health IT in Oregon, and they will come out of the session with their own action plan based on a checklist that the organizers have developed.”

Anyone curious about EHRs or health information exchange should take advantage of this chance to learn from the experts and also get insight and advice from health care providers who are already using Health IT. Physicians and other health care providers and their staff members can get essential information on the adoption and meaningful use of EHR technology, and learn how support from O-HITEC, Oregon’s regional extension center, can make the transition to EHRs easier. Representatives from Oregon’s Medicaid EHR Incentive Program will provide information about how eligible providers can join others who are already receiving incentive payments, and the Oregon Health Network (OHN) will discuss efforts to bring broadband internet access to practices across the state.

A key part of the 90-minute session will be the introduction of Oregon’s passport to Health IT seminar series that will launch with a five-hour workshop on August 4. The series will feature Health IT curriculum developed by a consortium of Universities including Oregon Health Sciences University (OHSU), Columbia University, Johns Hopkins University, Duke University and University of Alabama-Birmingham and presented by Oregon’s Community College Consortia (CCC) to Educate Health IT Professionals; both programs are sponsored by the ONC (Office of the National Coordinator of Health IT).

This event, and the seminar series, are the result of a collaboration among the Oregon Medical Association, O-HITEC, the OHN, the Oregon Health Authority and the Community College Consortia for Health IT, each of which is working to support the larger transformation of the health care delivery system through Health IT.
The event is free to providers and practice staff, but you must register by June 24.

Please visit this page to register, or for more information.