Maine has won approval from the federal government for the full use of its grant of nearly $6.6 million to expand and coordinate health information technology throughout the state, Gov. John E. Baldacci announced on Wednesday.
According to officials, Maine is the sixth state that has had its implementation plan approved by the Office of the National Coordinator (ONC). Currently, Maryland, New Mexico and Utah have had their plans approved. The other two states have yet to officially announce their approval.
Shaun Alfreds, chief operating officer of HealthInfoNet, the state's designated health information exchange, says the approximately $4.4 million in grants will serve to "help deploy the exchange statewide and bring additional healthcare providers to connect to the exchange."
Six organizations are currently connected to HealthInfoNet: Eastern Maine Health Systems in Brewer, Central Maine Healthcare in Lewiston, MaineGeneral Medical Centers, in Augusta and Waterville, Martin's Point Health Care in Portland and Bangor, Franklin Memorial Hospital in Farmington and MaineHealth, in Portland.
The organizations represent 52 percent of all inpatient visits statewide, 50 percent of ER visits and 45 percent of all ambulatory care visits, says Alfreds. HealthInfoNet is a centralized model, says Alfreds, that takes information in from providers and standardizes it to meet national standards before sending it back out. He says right now they have 780,000 Maine residents within its central main repository. HealthInfoNet’s goal is to have all 30 hospitals in Maine and 80 percent of all ambulatory care providers connected by 2014, says Alfreds.
Although the federal grant funds will help HealthInfoNet with this goal, Alfreds makes it clear that it will need additional funding from multiple public and private sources. HealthInfoNet will also charge providers a subscription fee for using the system.
HealthInfoNet has also received a $4.7 million grant from ONC to serve as the Regional Extension Center for Maine. The grant will support EMR adoption for healthcare providers and help them in achieving meaningful use. Alfreds says that with this grant, HealthInfoNet will reach 1,000 primary care providers across Maine. "I am very excited about this," says Alfreds. He notes that it is important to recognize that this would not be possible without the effort put forth by the state of Maine and all the other stakeholders involved.
"This approval reflects Maine's leadership in developing strategies to advance electronic medical records and, through the nonprofit HealthInfoNet, assure that such information can be readily available all across the state whenever and wherever a patient and her provider needs access to it," said Baldacci. "Electronic exchange of information speeds access to care, avoids unnecessary, costly repeat tests and helps prevent medical mistakes."
