06/02/2006 - IPRO leads health IT efforts with strong showing in NY for physicians adopting electronic health records

Contact:

Dennis Tartaglia/Kelly Peterson

(212) 481-7000

Spencer Vibbert

(516) 326-7767

Lake Success, NY, June 2, 2006 - IPRO, the Medicare Quality Improvement Organization (QIO) for New York, has called on physicians to adopt electronic health records (EHRs) to improve health care quality and safety for all patients. The call comes as health care and policy leaders such as the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services' Administrator Mark McClellan, MD, PhD gather in Washington DC June 5 to 9 for National Health IT Week, to promote the adoption of health information technology.

IPRO is recruiting physicians to participate in the Doctor's Office Quality-Information Technology (DOQ-IT) program, the largest national initiative that promotes the adoption of EHR systems in small and medium-sized physician offices. EHRs can help physicians ensure that patients get recommended care for the treatment of chronic illnesses such as diabetes. EHRs can streamline processes to make it easier for the doctor and patient to assess the effectiveness of certain treatments and to handle day-to-day operations regarding medical care.

"It's not too late to submit an application for DOQ-IT and receive support to adopt health IT in your office. We commend New York's physicians who have already demonstrated a commitment to advancing health IT through IPRO's DOQ-IT efforts and encourage others to join this exciting initiative," said Dr. Clare Bradley, Chief Medical Officer of IPRO.

IPRO has signed up over 100 physician practices so far, and is on track to recruit over 230 by the end of July. For those practices that are not able to apply, or are not ready to make the transition, IPRO has made the entire collection of literature, documentation and workbooks available online, for free, on their Joint Effort New York Web site.

For more information on DOQ-IT call 1-800-852-3685 x445, or visit http://www.ipro.org/doqit or email doqit@ipro.us. For information on any of the other quality improvement resources available from IPRO visit http://www.ipro.org.

With more than 20 years of experience in health care quality improvement and evaluation, IPRO holds major contracts with state and federal governments to review the cost and quality of services provided to Medicaid recipients, Medicare beneficiaries, and patients enrolled in managed care organizations, and to work with the health care community to improve those services. Based in Lake Success, New York, IPRO also holds contracts with private-sector clients to improve the quality of privately financed services.