Electronic health records getting boost from state

Electronic health records are on the way, and rural counties such as Lenoir are getting a boost from state funding.

The North Carolina Health and Wellness Trust Fund created a system that will assist in the transition to electronic health records. The program — the N.C. Electronic Health Record Loan Fund Pilot Program — will provide financial assistance to health care providers in Tier 1 counties seeking to create or upgrade electronic health record systems.

“Doctors in rural North Carolina need as much help as we can provide,” Gov. Bev Perdue said in a press release. “These electronic health record systems will enable them to deliver better medical care in the smaller towns and cities across our state.”

All physicians will have to have a government-mandated electronic health record in place by 2015, as part of the Obama administration’s health reform. Doctors and hospitals could receive as much as $27 billion over the next 10 years to buy equipment to computerize patients’ medical records. An estimated 50,000 new jobs will be needed in this area by 2015, according to the department of Health and Human Services.

Electronic health records will be an important part of health care reform, and making sure rural counties are up to date is a goal of the Health and Wellness Trust Fund, according to Dr. Chuck Willson, Health and Wellness Trust Fund chair and pediatrician at the Brody School of Medicine at East Carolina University.

“Technology will enhance the ability to care for their patients and to participate in quality improvement programs,” Willson said. “In this era of health care reform, it is especially important for the Health and Wellness Trust Fund to support the infrastructure needed by rural providers in order to improve access to care for North Carolina’s vulnerable and underserved populations.”

Joel Gerber can be reached at 252-559-1076 or jgerber@freedomenc.com