Tuesday, May 13, 2025
5/13/2025
Health Information Technology Regional Extension Center for Oklahoma - Project Title: Health Information Technology Regional Extension Center for Oklahoma Service Area: 730 ??? 749 Applicant Name: Oklahoma Foundation for Medical Quality Address: 14000 Quail Springs Parkway, Oklahoma City, OK 73134 Contact Name: Claudette Greenway Contact Phone: 405-302-3240 (fax 405-840-1343) Email Address: cgreenway@ofmq.com The Oklahoma Foundation for Medical Quality (OFMQ), in partnership with a broad coalition of stakeholders, proposes to serve as the Oklahoma Regional Extension Center (REC) for Health Information Technology (HIT) for the state of Oklahoma. For more than 35 years, OFMQ has played an integral role in ensuring quality medical services through healthcare review, quality improvement projects, and public education. Over the past five years, OFMQ has had extensive experience working in partnership with physicians and hospitals providing expert consultation and technical assistance for the implementation and support of meaningful use of electronic health records (EHRs). The primary goal for the Oklahoma REC is to advance the implementation and use of health information technology to improve healthcare quality, efficiency and safety. We have proposed to target more than 1000 priority primary-care practitioners representing 27% of the primary care physicians in the state (40% of the estimated priority primary-care providers). In collaboration with our partner, the Oklahoma Primary Care Association, the REC will provide EHR support to 11 federally-qualified health centers (and their 74 primary-care practitioners). In Oklahoma there are a large number of primary-care providers that deliver healthcare services in single practitioner offices. Based on our analysis of priority primary-care providers that do not have an EHR currently in use, there is an average of 1.5 practitioners per site. Providers with an EHR currently in use average 3.1 practitioners per site. Due to the low number of providers per practice site and the largely rural nature of our state these priority providers will require intensive on-site ("boots on the ground") support. Our overall approach to support of implementation and meaningful use of EHRs will involve direct, onsite technical support for priority primary-care offices. Technical assistance will consist of practice and workflow analysis, assistance with vendor selection and contracting, and training related to configuration, customization and go live processes. OFMQ practice advisors will instruct all staff on the EHR's functionality to insure that alerts and reminders, referrals management, lab interfaces, health maintenance and prescription modules are being fully utilized. Additionally, assisting providers to template their progress notes so patient-specific care plans can be generated for chronic conditions will be critical. We will coordinate with state-level efforts on health information exchange and support priority practices as they integrate their office EHRs with local health information networks. We plan to support our direct technical assistance efforts with core activities including HIT workforce development, and EHR group purchasing discounts working with our collaborating state professional societies. The anticipated outcome from our activities as the REC include successful implementation and meaningful use of EHRs by a large proportion of the primary care providers in Oklahoma. We plan to develop an efficient model of implementation support for primary care practices and a successful extension center for ongoing support of HIT that is sustained beyond the four years of funding supported in this funding opportunity.
HHS’ Tracking Accountability in Government Grants System (TAGGS) website provides access to detailed descriptions of grants, loans, aggregated direct payments and other types of financial assistance awarded by the HHS Operating Divisions (OPDIVs) and the Office of the Secretary Staff Divisions (STAFFDIVs).