The path of destruction in the Gulf Coast states wrought more than a decade ago by Hurricane Katrina also resulted in unforeseen benefits for healthcare providers in the region.

One of those surprises was the rise of concerted efforts to provide telecommunications connections for caregivers in both rural and urban underserved environments in the southern United States.

That’s according to Dominic Mack, MD, executive director, Georgia Health Information Technology Extension Center and Georgia Health Connect and co-director, National Center for Primary Care, Atlanta Morehouse School of Medicine.

Mack will be sharing the experiences that grew out of building regional HIT capabilities during his HIMSS16' presentation: "Sustainable HIE Models for Practices and Rural Hospitals."

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GA-HITEC is the state's only federally-endorsed Regional Extension Center for health information technology. Mack said the organization has achieved impressive results in encouraging use of HIT among the state's smaller providers.

"We work with 4,000 providers, 56 critical access and rural hospitals, and today have about 98 percent of those providers meeting meaningful use," Mack said.

And, whatever happens with MU measures in the wake of the CMS announcement that the program will be phased out, Mack said those served by GA-HITEC have also started to realize the value of MU, "which help with a number of other quality measures."

Mack also said GA-HITEC's completely independent status gives it credibility with those smaller independent providers who could stand to benefit most from innovative approaches to sharing data.

"Our mission was grown out of helping providers to adopt, not trying to connect them to services within a health system," he said. "Our business depends purely on the needs of the practices around HIT and not our needs here."

Paramount among GA-HITEC's goals, Mack said, is to help the provider community in those underserved communities stretch their strained resources in order to continue their livelihoods and improve care.

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"I think if you look at the smaller practices, the provider just needs time to sit down and look at what he needs or she needs and actually incorporate it into their business operation," he said. "So we're trying to enable them and provide not only the technology, but also the quality programs to enable them to sustain without having to sell their practice or join other entities."

Mack will present these ideas with Gary Palgon, vice president, healthcare and life sciences solutions, GA-HITEC technology partner, Liaison Technologies, March 1 from 4 - 5 p.m. at Sands Expo Convention Center, Lando 4205. HIMSS runs from February 29 through March 4 in Las Vegas.

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