Delaware REC first to help 1,000 providers achieve MU

The Delaware regional extension center (REC) is the first to help 1,000 primary care physicians achieve Meaningful Use Stage 1 of their EHR systems.

Quality Insights of Delaware – Regional Extension Center (QIDE REC) is one of 62 centers that began helping physicians by providing technical assistance, guidance and information on best practices in 2010.

“The Delaware state motto of ‘the First State’ is fitting also for the Delaware REC, which is the first state to reach their goal of bringing primary care providers, often in small and underserved practices, to meaningful use,” Kimberly Lynch, ONC’s REC programs director, said in a release.

“Meaningful Use accomplishes two objectives,” said Beth Schindele, QIDE REC director. “It assures relevant, beneficial utilization of the technology and it creates a critical mass of providers with the capability of collaborating for true health improvement.”

According to Schindele, clinicians without EHRs will now be better able to see the first-hand benefits of electronic communications between others on the care team and be encouraged to make the switch themselves.

“Aligning improved patient care outcomes with the (electronic) tools that providers and patients can use is critical for patient engagement. Patients can't track data they don't see and doctors can't improve without data to show how they are doing," said Margot Savoy, MD, MPH, medical director of Christiana Care Health System Family Medicine Centers in Wilmington. The organization successfully attested to Stage 1 Meaningful Use in 2012 and also achieved NCQA Level I PCMH status, making them the first NCQA-recognized practices in the state of Delaware.