Not-for-profit HealthInfoNet, the state of Maine’s health information exchange, and the designated Regional Extension Center for the state, has received a $4.7 million federal grant to help providers adopt electronic health records and achieve meaningful use. The goal is to connect 1,000 eligible primary healthcare providers across the state.

The purpose of the REC is to “drive market differentiators into this space” to build up the marketplace and to “promote adoption to providers who have traditionally been very hard to reach because of the cost,” says Shaun Alfreds, COO HealthInfoNet, and principle investigator of the grant.

The two-year grant awarded $1 million to HealthInfoNet. HealthInfoNet has also partnered in this effort with Quality Counts, a regional healthcare collaborative based in Manchester, Maine. The remaining $3.7 million will go to the HER vendors that will be designated by HealthInfoNet as well as a broad group of stakeholders across the state, according to Alfreds.

Vendors supporting providers enrolled with the MEREC are eligible for up to $3,550 per provider. “The money doesn’t flow to the providers but to the vendors,” says Todd Rogow, director of project management at HealthInfoNet and the MEREC.

HealthInfoNet has sent out Requests for Proposals (RFPs) and Requests for Qualifications (RFQs) for two types of vendors, EMR implementation and EMR Vendor. Alfreds says the bidding process will take one month.

Currently HealthInfoNet is enrolling providers through its wholesale partner organizations – providers associated with larger organizations that already have an EHR deployed, says Rogow. He says they are reaching out to the retail side – smaller providers that may be paper-based or do not have access to IT support – through bi-annual educational sessions to be offered in four regions across the state beginning this fall. He says they plan to have enrollment forms up on their site soon.

So what is the advantage to enrolling in the REC?

“We are trying to get the lowest cost out to providers for EMRs. The vendor has to demonstrate that they are the lowest price in the market and if they go lower with some other organization or REC, that we will get that price,” says Alfreds.

Quality Counts is responsible for ensuring that the overall efforts of the MEREC and its vendors are guided by a framework of continuous quality improvement and aligning EHR adoption with other quality improvement efforts in the state, like the patient centered medical home.  Other specific activities being offered by Quality Counts in support of the MEREC include:
• Information, resources, and tools for providers summarizing the federal incentive program for EHR adoption and meaningful use;
• Educational webinars and technical assistance for provider practices to promote understanding of federal meaningful use regulations and reporting requirements; and
• Information and tools showing the links between meaningful use and other quality improvement activities, such as medical homes.

“It’s all about moving to a more patient-centered care model,” says Lisa M. Letourneau MD, executive director, Quality Counts, and “EHRs are one of the tools we can use to get us there.”

This is also a good opportunity for providers to go beyond the meaningful use requirements and look at a broader set of quality improvement measures, says Letourneau. She says in selecting an EHR vendor, her team looks for one that is capable of offering providers the ability to report on at least 20 quality measures. The vendor also has to be capable of connecting with the state’s HIE.

The grant, although for two-years, does have a possible two-year extension, says Alfreds.

“Our goal is to achieve connection within the time frame, but it is not clear, what years three and four will look like,” he says. We had to match 10 percent for the first two years, in years three and four we have to match 90 percent of the grant, so he says “sustainability is definitely an issue.”