Supporting HIT Adoption for Quality Improvement in the Safety Net

The Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has been providing technical assistance and support around quality improvement and health IT adoption for safety net providers for decades. Recently, the Office of Health IT and Quality and the Bureau of Primary Health Care has promoted health IT adoption among HRSA grantees using a series of in-person and virtual webinars and learning forums and online toolkits. Through ongoing structured feedback and needs assessment, we will present findings on lessons learned from the experience of providing technical assistance. We will describe the effectiveness of strategies that employ peer to peer learning and technical assistance as well as approaches to triaging needs between those that can be addressed using one-to-many approaches such as webinars versus those requiring one on one engagement. In addition, we will describe scenarios where in person technical assistance is important compared to those issues and topics that can be addressed at a distance through use of targeted expertise. Findings will have immediate relevance to the efforts of initiatives that target increased adoption and use of health IT among safety net providers and underserved communities. This issue is particularly salient as HITECH funded efforts such as the Regional Extension Center (REC) program and the Health Information Technology Research Center (HITRC) that are meant to target all providers, but have a particular mandate to prioritize the needs of specific providers including federally qualified health centers, rural providers and others that treat underserved groups.