slarose's blog

One of the things our regional extension center staff has been hearing from eligible professionals is that the clinical summary measure for meaningful use is difficult to achieve. So to help EPs on this measure, we put together a short video, interviewing several Vermont providers who have met the clinical summary measure to find out how they did it. VITL Implementation Specialist Priscilla Phelps is also interviewed and offers several tips.

You can see the video on the VITL website by clicking here. 

VITL President and CEO David Cochran, MD, was a guest on the Feb. 8 program of VPR's Vermont Edition. Dr. Cochran was interviewed about the progress of EHR adoption and health information exchange in Vermont.

Click here to listen to the interview on Vermont Public Radio's website.

We wrapped up our meaningful use webinar series yesterday with a segment looking at what's ahead for meaningful use in 2012. In the webinar, Terry Bequette from DVHA also gave an update on where things stand with Medicaid EHR incentive payments. To watch the webinar, click here. 

VITL hosted an event on Thursday, Nov. 10 at the Norwich Inn, where we presented Meaningful Use Vanguard certificates to the six physicians from White River Family Practice who recently achieved meaningful use. White River Family Practice is the second physician practice in the state to receive these certificates, the first being Middlebury Family Health in early August at a press conference with Sen. Patrick Leahy.

We've been spending the last couple of weeks tying up loose ends from the VITL Summit. That work has included editing videos of Dr. Halamka's keynote address (rated as excellent by more than 70 percent of conference attendees) and the three breakout sessions in the meaningful use track. All of the videos have been uploaded to the VITL YouTube channel and are also available through the media page on our website.

We're ready for the VITL Summit conference next week, which will have a record turnout with more than 300 people registered so far. We're going ahead with the conference despite the flood damage in Vermont from Tropical Storm Irene. We encourage people coming from southern Vermont to check the Agency of Transportation interactive map first to plan the best route from where they are to the conference in Burlington. More details at http://vitlsummit.net

To mark a major milestone -- the first Vermont physician practice to achieve meaningful use and receive Medicare EHR incentive payments -- VITL and U.S. Sen. Patrick Leahy held a joint press conference in Middlebury on Friday, Aug. 12. It was a well-attended event, with about 35 people in the audience, including employees of Middlebury Family Health (the physician practice being honored for achieving meaningful use), directors and staff from Porter Medical Center, and two Vermont state representatives.

The New Hampshire-Vermont chapter of the Healthcare Financial Management Association is having a one-day conference about meaningful use on Wednesday, August 24 in West Lebanon, NH. Here are some of the things attendees will learn:

Vermont Information Technology Leaders, Inc. (VITL), the federally-designated health IT regional extension center for Vermont, announced today that it has selected an additional preferred EHR partner.