CentrEast gets grant for medical records

(COLLEGE STATION, TX) — Five months after receiving a multimillion-dollar federal grant to establish a center that assists in adoption, implementation and progress toward meaningful use of electronic health records, the Texas A&M Health Science Center (HSC) has landed a supplemental grant emphasizing critical access hospitals.

In April, the HSC-Rural and Community Health Institute received $5.3 million from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to form a Health Information Technology Regional Extension Center (REC). It was part of a $35.7 million award to establish RECs in four Texas regions.

The HSC-Rural and Community Health Institute REC, CentrEast, assists physicians and health care professionals in 47 central and east Texas counties. Partners include Mays Business School and the Dwight Look College of Engineering from Texas A&M University.

CentrEast Regional Extension Center provides technical assistance, guidance and information on best practices for health care practitioners to become meaningful users of electronic health records. Along with providers, this new $384,000 grant to CentrEast will benefit critical access hospitals in its region.

The latest award is part of nearly $20 million in new federal technical support assistance to help critical access and rural hospital facilities convert from paper-based medical records to certified electronic health record technology.