New online community launched to help medical practices learn about meaningful use

Washington, July 13, 2010 – A new, free interactive website to help medical practices compare, select, and implement electronic health records (EHRs) was launched today by AmericanEHR Partners. Founded by the American College of Physicians (ACP) and its partner, Cientis Technologies, AmericanEHR Partners (www.AmericanEHR.com) brings together professional societies and health care professionals. The resulting collaboration provides credible information, tools, and expertise to support the optimal use of health information technology (health IT), and to improve the delivery of health care.

AmericanEHR Partners’s mission is to develop a vibrant online community to support physicians and other health care professionals as they adopt and use health IT. It will help medical practices meet the new meaningful use requirements released today by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS). Beginning in 2011, financial incentives will be available to practices that use certified EHRs to demonstrate the implementation of specific functions to support better health care – which is referred to in the CMS rule as “meaningful use.”

“ACP is excited to be working with other professional societies and experts in the health IT field to offer this dynamic new resource to all health care professionals who are interested in EHRs and related technology,” said ACP President J. Fred Ralston, Jr., MD, FACP. “AmericanEHR Partners is a great new resource to help physicians and other health care professionals meet Meaningful Use requirements and adapt to the new demands imposed by health care reform.”

“It is our goal through AmericanEHR Partners to provide the most comprehensive and trusted online community dedicated to support physicians and their medical office teams in their adoption and use of EHR systems,” said Alan Brookstone, MD, CEO of Cientis Technologies. “AmericanEHR Partners brings together a rich set of tools as well as content from the source that physicians trust most: their professional societies.”

Currently Participating Professional Societies include:

* American Academy of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology

* American College of Physicians

* American College of Rheumatology

* American Osteopathic Association of Medical Informatics

* American Psychiatric Association

* Infectious Disease Society of America

* Renal Physicians Association

* Society of General Internal Medicine 

The American Health Information Management Association, a health care information management organization, has joined the community as a Content Partner.

AmericanEHR Partners will help simplify EHR adoption by allowing healthcare professionals to:

* Evaluate readiness to adopt an EHR and provide a list of recommended resources to help overcome identified challenges;

* View comprehensive EHR user ratings on different solutions (ratings are based on surveys of physicians conducted through their professional societies);

* Sort EHR solutions based on medical subspecialty and desired functionality; and

* Provide side-by-side comparisons of EHR systems. 

The site also provides educational content though newsletters, podcasts, webinars, blogs, and more.

 

Source: AmericanEHR