The Regional Extension Centers aimed at helping physicians across the country convert to digital records have begun their work, and some of the centers’ leaders were trumpeting their goals at the 2010 Government Health IT Conference and Exhibition June 15-16 in the nation’s capital.

Jenni Brockman, director of Communications and Organizational Growth at the Virginia Health Quality Center (VHQC) said her organization has now partnered with the Center for Innovative Technology, Community Care Network of Virginia and the Medical Society of Virginia to form the new Virginia-wide REC.

The Virginia Health Information Technology REC will use its two-year, $12.4 million federal REC grant to target some 2,300 physicians, or 20 percent of the primary care providers in Virginia.

"Quality is the end game for us," she said. "That's why we're interested in healthcare IT. It's a means for improving healthcare."

Like many of the organizations that received REC grants, VHQC is a federally designated quality improvement organization (QIO), already experienced in helping organizations achieve quality in healthcare.

Brockman said the Virginia REC would provide discounted group purchasing rates from selected healthcare IT vendors. However, the REC will also help doctors if they wish to use systems they already have.

Healthbridge Tri-State Regional Extension Center based in Cincinnati, will serve physicians in parts of Kentucky, Indiana and Ohio.

David Groves, executive director of Healthbridge, said the REC has its work cut out for it. "Dismal statistics" show fewer than 6 percent of primary care physicians in the area use electronic health records, with even fewer in rural areas. Healthbridge plans to help 1,800 of them achieve meaningful use by 2012.

The Healthbridge REC will use its $9.7 million grant to offer group purchasing, healthcare IT connectivity, educational resources and personal help. "We don't want this to be just proof of a pilot, but a true transformational change, " he added.

Beth Schindele, project director of new Delaware Regional Extension Center, affiliated with the West Virginia Medical Institute and Quality Insights of Delaware, said the REC would try to get 1,000 physicians to qualify for meaningful use.

This is a "very aggressive" goal, she said, because most of the physicians serve rural areas and are without broadband service. The REC will use 90 percent of its grant money to provide incentives to get physicians to participate.

Getting a physician buy-in to healthcare IT is difficult, Schindele said. But so far, the new REC has more than 150 physicians who have contracted to participate.