Maryland's Primary Care Providers Are Embracing Electronic Health Records

BALTIMORE, March 30, 2011 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Physicians, nurse practitioners and other primary care providers from Ocean City to Garrett County are making the transition from paper to electronic health records, or EHRs, in order to maximize their share of around $20 billion in federal incentives made available through the Centers of Medicare & Medicaid Services. More than half of the slots in a unique program to assist Maryland primary-care providers are now full, the Chesapeake Regional Information System for Our Patients (CRISP) announced today.

CRISP is offering subsidized technical assistance to 1,000 primary care providers transitioning to EHRs by 2014. CRISP is a private, non-profit organization whose mission is to provide safer, more timely, efficient, effective, equitable, patient-centered health care to all Marylanders through health information technology.

"Governor O'Malley and I have made implementing electronic health records one of our 15 strategic goals because health IT will help reduce costs while improving care for Marylanders," said Lt. Governor Anthony G. Brown, co-chair of Maryland's Health Care Reform Coordinating Council. "Right now, Maryland health care providers have a valuable opportunity to take advantage of federal dollars to transition to electronic health records, but they must act quickly as these programs are available on a first-come, first-served basis and slots are filling up."

A number of resources are available to the primary-care community through Maryland's Regional Extension Center for Health Information Technology (REC), a program administered by CRISP with support from the Maryland Health Care Commission. More than 500 primary care providers across Maryland have signed up to participate in the REC program, with slots filling fast. Starting in 2015, providers who chose not to act will face penalties in the form of decreased reimbursement rates.

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