It was a stroke of genius and practicality at once that created the health information technology extension program.

The program, a product of the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology, the program has established 60 Health Information Technology Regional Extension Centers across the country.
The idea is to help solo practitioners and small physician practices convert to electronic medical records. The centers will offer technical assistance, guidance and information on best practices to support and accelerate healthcare providers’ efforts to become meaningful users of electronic health records.

Uptake of electronic medical record systems among small medical groups has been notoriously slow, seemingly stuck in the 15-20 percent range.

It’s understandable that many of these small practices have been stymied by fear. There’s a lot to worry about. Which system should I buy? How will I make the switch? What if I lose some records? Will I have to use both paper and the EMR for a while? Won’t this take a lot of time? Will I have to work longer hours? Will I have to cut back on the number of patients I see? How much will it cost? Can I afford it? What how will it affect my patients?
My mother, who is 92, sees one of those solo practitioners in Maine. He’s been her doctor for more than 30 years. He is known among the medical community for his detailed notes (sometimes hard to read) and for his follow-through.

He is still using paper records He does not take an anti-technology position, but he does worry that communication will get worse not better using electronic means. He’s observed that nurses and doctors tend to “scan” big chunks of information and often fail to retain critical pieces.

He may be right. I didn’t tell him that his own office had appointments for my mother both on Monday and Thursday that week. No one knows how the Monday appointment (on the paper calendar) got there.
If my mother’s doctor and others like him are to convert to electronic records they need help and assurance that they will succeed.

Until now there has been no one to turn to – at least not in an organized way.
The extension centers are for the most part already established health IT organizations, such as Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center, Greater Cincinnati HealthBridge (Ohio-Kentucky-Indiana) and HealthInfoNet in Maine, a statewide health information exchange (HIE).

The government has invested millions of dollars in each of the 60 centers (about $643 million total), charging them with providing training and support services to doctors and other providers in the adoption and meaningful use of EHR systems.

The goal is to reach at least 100,000 priority primary care providers within two years.

ONC chief David Blumenthal, MD, has referred to the centers as “local healthcare geek squads.”

The IT centers are patterned after the Agriculture Department’s cooperative extension system aimed at helping farmers address pesticide, crop and land use issues. Each U.S. state and territory has a state office at its land-grant university and a network of local or regional offices. The centers provide research-based information to agricultural producers, small business owners, youth, consumers and others in rural areas and communities of all sizes.

We’re confident this model will work for health IT as well or better.

It made sense decades ago to take the information to the field, and it makes sense today.