Virtual Toolkit for LA Healthcare Providers
The number of physicians using e-prescribing and other forms of electronic health information technology should increase quickly with the assistance of resources that have been made available by the Health Information Security and Privacy Collaboration (HISPC) in Louisiana at www.Secure4Health.org and www.Secure4HealthLA.org.
In order to move toward what could be new IT mandates for electronic information exchange and medical records, providers will want to review resources available on the Web site, a tool developed by a Louisiana collaborative under the auspices of the Department of Health and Human Services.
The site offers physician-to-physician advice, resource links, and answers to frequently asked legal questions from local subject-matter experts and is a project of the Health Information Security and Privacy Collaboration (HISPC). The collaboration is working in eight states, and focuses on safe, private and secure health information exchange technology for providers. Louisiana is joined by Florida, Kentucky, Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri, Tennessee and Wyoming in the effort. The collaboration also gives healthcare providers an opportunity to earn free continuing medical education credits while learning more about electronic health information exchange, electronic health record systems, and related privacy and security benefits and challenges.
The pilot runs from January to March 2009. To evaluate its impact on healthcare providers and the medical community, HISPC will analyze Web site traffic, the number of healthcare providers taking advantage of free continuing education credits and other evaluation metrics. The goal is to use this feedback to design an education and outreach toolkit for healthcare providers nationwide.
