CalHIPSO Hits Another Significant Milestone, Helping 7,500 Providers Implement and Utilize Electronic Health Records for ePrescribing

OAKLAND, Calif., July 16, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- The California Health Information Partnership and Services Organization (CalHIPSO), has achieved another important milestone in its mission to help clinicians adopt electronic health records (EHRs) and demonstrate Meaningful Use (MU). As of last week, more than 7,500 CalHIPSO providers have implemented and utilized EHRs for ePrescribing. The announcement was made today by CalHIPSO CEO Speranza Avram, who noted that, by achieving this milestone, CalHIPSO has exceeded its grant requirement for EHR implementation under the ARRA federal stimulus program operated by the Office of the National Coordinator (ONC). CalHIPSO is funded to support 6,187 providers throughout California adopt EHRs and achieve MU.

Small Provider Groups and Solo Practitioners Lead the Way
"Small provider groups and solo practitioners, who make up about 30% of our membership, lead the way in implementations," says Avram. "Initially we thought there'd be faster progress with the larger organized systems like community health centers and public hospitals. As it turned out, the reverse has been true. There is greater complexity with large, enterprise systems that have multiple sites, competing priorities, and a wide variety of health services offered at their sites."

"While the effort to get to meaningful use can be complex," she continues, "we've seen the momentum shift in recent months as providers who may have been on the sidelines cautiously observing the progress of their colleagues, are now jumping in and attesting to meaningful use in greater numbers."

Lisa Folberg, CalHIPSO's board chair and California Medical Association vice president, notes that the strong showing among small provider groups and solo practitioners is especially noteworthy. "Achieving Meaningful Use is a heavy lift for any provider or group of providers,"she says. "But for small and solo practices, with limited available time and resources, this is an especially significant accomplishment."

Additionally CalHIPSO has assisted clinicians to earn over $110 million in EHR incentive payments and facilitated the creation or retention of 590 jobs.

About CalHIPSO
CalHIPSO was founded by the California Primary Care Association (CPCA), the California Medical Association (CMA) and the California Association of Public Hospitals and Health Systems (CAPH). As the largest of 62 federally designated Regional Extension Centers (REC), serving 56 of California's 58 counties, CalHIPSO helps providers in California navigate the complicated world of electronic health record adoption. For more information visit www.CalHIPSO.org.

SOURCE CalHIPSO