New Leadership for REC and PTN

We would like to take this opportunity to announce that Michael Aldridge has resigned his position as Vice President of Operations at KFMC after five successful years serving as the Regional Extension Center (REC) Program Director. Michael's last day with KFMC will be July 10.  

Under Michael’s leadership and with an expert team of HIT consultants (pictured above), 972 PPCPs have reached Meaningful Use, earning more than $25 million from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services EHR Incentive Programs. In addition, through a strong partnership with The Kansas Hospital Education and Research Foundation, 89 of the 95 participating Critical Access/Rural hospitals are using CEHRT and 61 have attested to Meaningful Use, earning more than $90 million of incentives. By the end of this grant, it is expected that 86 participating hospitals will reach Meaningful Use.

ONC reports that 53% of Kansas physician practices have adopted basic EHRs. The adoption rates are even higher, 65%, for primary care physicians in Kansas, thanks in great part to REC funding, excellent REC staff, and hardworking providers.

We are pleased that Michael's new role will enable him to continue improving healthcare in KS. Michael's new role is Executive Director with Aledade for the Kansas region. KFMC will be providing technical assistance to the providers that join the Aledade Kansas ACO to prepare them for alternative payment models, thus allowing Michael to continue working with many of the team he assembled for the REC work.

We are excited to share that Erin Patrick has been named Regional Extension Center (REC) Program Director and will be leading the KFMC Practice Transformation Network (PTN) Grant efforts as well. As a part of KFMC since the beginning of the REC work in 2010, Erin went from being a practice consultant on the ground floor of the work being done, to Director of Health IT. Her career highlights include consulting for a large HIT firm, supervisor of data quality at a regional medical center, and director of health information management and HIPAA privacy officer for a small community hospital. She now directs the strategies that align the field staff to continue to meet the landmarks still unmet, and will bring the same leadership and expertise to her role as State PTN Lead.