REC Update – West North Central

The 62 Regional Extension Centers are located in nine regional areas. This post is checking in on the Midwest West North Central region and its six states and six centers.

IowaIFMC HIT REC (Iowa Foundation for Medical Care)
Working in partnership with INConcertCare the Iowa REC is set up to help more than 1,200 providers. The center has announced their Selected Vendor List which they believe are the products that will most likely help the smaller primary care practices in Iowa achieving MU. The center also has recently been expanded to include Critical Access and Rural Hospital support services. Check out their October event schedule.

KansasaHIT in Kansas (Accelerating HIT)
The Kansas Foundation for Medical Care is the designated regional extension center servicing all of Kansas. Their mission is to accelerate the adoption and meaningful use of certified EHR technology among Kansas providers, working with at least 1,200 providers in the first two years of the program. Keep up with the center and HIT activities in Kansas with their blog.

Minnesota and North DakotaREACH (Regional Extension Assistance Center for HIT)
Key Health Alliance is a partnership of Stratis Health, Rural Health Resource Center, and The College of St. Scholastica, and was developed with an emphasis on improving health for the rural and underserved. Key Health Alliance is the designated extension center for both Minnesota and North Dakota. You can register for their discounted EHR services on their web site.

MissouriMissouri HIT Assistance Center
This center is a collaborative of University of Missouri Dept of Family & Community Medicine, Center for Health Policy, Center for Health Management & Informatics, and the Missouri Telehealth Network. Hopefully the REC is more than their web site portrays. If a company put up this site they clearly would run off business. And they could start with their URL.

NebraskaWide River Technology Extension Center
CIMRO of Nebraska, the Medicare Quality Improvement Organization for Nebraska was awarded the REC for this state. The center has been one of the first to get organized and get on line. They have continuous educational events along with email updates and a newsletter. The center also calls itself “100% vendor agnostic” for all services provided.

South DakotaCAHIT (Center for Advancement of HIT)
Dakota State University received the funds for the South Dakota REC. Another site that gives little help or information to potential providers. Are the university RECs really that clueless on how to put up a web site?