Health Infomation Tech Regional Extension

Extension means reaching out, and— along with teaching and research— extending resources. In agriculture this dissemination of knowledge and skills is the Cooperative Extension System (CES). CES in rural America helped make possible the American agricultural revolution, which dramatically increased farm productivity and resulted in "the breadbasket of the world."

The eXtension Web site is a business model for Health Information Technology Regional Extension Centers (HITRECs). One of the goals of eXtension is to develop a coordinated, Internet-based information system where customers will have round-the-clock access to trustworthy, balanced views of specialized information and education on a wide range of topics mentioned in the bulleted paragraph that follows.

The value proposition of a HITREC is be personalized, validated information addressing specific questions, issues, and future needs and IT developments.

Information on the HITREC web site could be organized into Communities of Practice (COP). Each COP would include articles, news, events, and frequently asked questions (FAQs). The information from online and print sources is analyzed, organized, and disseminated as paper checklists, podcasts to celphones, and online. COPs are organized around a many topics, including but not limited to

• ICD-10 planning and implementation
• electronic records (PHR, EHR, EMR)
• HIPAA 5010 transactions
• smartphones as portals to electronic records
• principles defined in Visual Display of Quantitative Information by Edward Tufte and
  
• health 2.0 topics.

The foundation principle for any HITREC presentation is "Make Knowledge Visible and Useful." Visible knowledge must based on unbiased research and undergoes peer review prior to dissemination. When a provider wants to read the source(s), s/he will use the provided citations (author, source name, date, pages) and links.

CES and eXtension invented the "wheel" for effective expertise and technology transfer in the U.S. There is no need for the Obama administration, HHS, or his Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) to re-invent the "wheel."

Mutually inclusive

When each of us has an electronic personal health record (PHR) and expect a care provider to have interoperable health information technology (HIT), adoption of electonic health record (EHR) or electronic medical record (EMR) systems by chronic, acute, and geriatric care providers will be accelerated.

Electronic management of health/medical data will help to

• improve outcomes
• reduce errors (incompatible meds, incorrect location, and the like) and
• reduce costs due to preventing repetititious tests and mis-filed charts.

A smartphone application that streamlines interoperability of these electronic records in the context of ICD-10 will leverage expert system and cloud computing capabilities.

Make knowledge visible for ease of understanding and subsequent decision-making about

• ICD-10 and HIPAA 5010 transactions
• smartphone-mediated EHR/EMR and PHR systems and
• cloud computing for managing and mining electronic records (e.g. cost-reduction, utilization, and efficacy trends).

Health Information Technology Regional Extension Centers could carry the lion's share of the electronic record technology burden so providers at all levels don't have to add "IT" to their plates.