Electronic Health Records For Dummies

Professional organizations

Professional organizations that serve both providers and staff offer help with EHR adoption. A wealth of information is available including specialized Web sites, magazines, newsletters, online discussion forums, and (we like this the most) access to your peers. Professional societies and organizations exist to support and help you. Most professional societies also have policy awareness, so they’re tracking legislation, Meaningful Use criteria, and certification closely to provide you with what you need to know.

Check out these organizations for help with EHR adoption and information:

American Association of Family Physicians (AAFP; www.aafp.org): AAFP knows that its entire membership is faced with implementing EHR and is a priority population under the HITECH Act. AAFP wants to help physicians get their incentive dollars, and overcome the reimbursement and financial challenges encountered by family physicians. AAFP proactively established the AAFP Center for Health Information Technology (www.centerforhit.org), a Web site with resources for physicians that also offers additional member-only resources, such as “Find a doctor like me” and a physician product reviewer/EHR user directory.

American College of Physicians (ACP; www.acponline.org): Like the AAFP, the ACP is fairly progressive with respect to EHR adoption and development of resources to help its community. ACP established the Center for Practice Improvement and Innovation with a specific focus ...