HomeTown Health & GA-HITREC present Georgia Rural Health IT Forum in Macon
Published 26 January 2012
Atlanta, GA (PRWEB) January 24, 2012
HomeTown Health is responding to the urgent need for rural hospitals and their medical communities to comply with the federal requirement to Adopt, Implement and Meaningfully Use an Electronic Health Record by partnering with the Georgia HIT Regional Extension Center to hold the first Georgia Rural Health IT Forum in Macon, Georgia on Thursday, January 26th at the Macon Marriott Center. More than 75 Georgia hospital CIOs and HIT Directors will gather in Macon to share their Meaningful Use stories and to hear from top Health IT leaders across Georgia including Dr Denise Hines and Kim Bell the new Executive Director of the Georgia HITREC, Kelly Gonzalez, Georgias State HIT Coordinator, Michelle Madison, Healthcare IT Attorney with Morris, Manning & Martin, Ed Brown, CIO, Gwinnett Medical Center; Dee Cantrell, RN and CIO, Emory Healthcare, Jimmy Lewis, CEO of HomeTown Health, Paula Guy, Executive Director of Georgia Partnership for Telehealth and HIT leaders from around the state.
The Georgia HIT Regional Extension Center and its Education and Outreach partner, HomeTown Health were recognized at a recent meeting of the Office of National Coordinator in Washington, DC for having 10 rural hospitals attest to Stage I Meaningful Use, with more to attest soon. Health Information Technology has been a priority for HomeTown Health since the ARRA/HITECH ACT was passed in 2009 and HomeTown Health CEO Jimmy Lewis commented, We are committed to ensuring that all fifty-six of our hospital members achieve all three stages of meaningful use before the CMS deadline in 2015, because those who are not in compliance will be penalized through reductions to their reimbursement and that just cannot happen.
The agenda for this groundbreaking healthcare event includes the following topics relevant to rural hospitals and providers:
1.