Tennesee Office of eHealth Initiatives
George Beckett

The mission of the Tennessee Office of eHealth Initiatives is to facilitate improvements in Tennessee's health care quality, safety, transparency, efficiency, and cost effectiveness through statewide adoption and use of electronic health records (EHR) and health information exchange (HIE). Access to the right health care information appropriately, securely and at the right time by providers and patients will allow these goals to be reached.

 Health Information Technology has become a major focus of the healthcare industry in the last few years and has received considerable attention recently because the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA) allocates funding by the Office of the National Coordinator for HIT for programs to promote health information exchange, the adoption and meaningful use of EHRs, and health information technology workforce development. ARRA presents Tennessee with a new opportunity to advance the secure exchange of health information with these stimulus funds being made available for grants, loans, and incentives to expand the adoption and Meaningful Use of EHRs and HIE.

This Web site is an informational resource for Tennessee hospitals and health care providers seeking to understand the Recovery Act's Meaningful Use criteria for EHR adoption and HIE, and to direct these stakeholders to resources that identify best practices for successful adoption allowing them to receive Medicaid and Medicare incentives available under the Act.  It is also a resource for Tennessee consumers to increase awareness of the benefits of EHR adoption and HIE by the Tennessee hospitals and providers who serve them.