The Alabama Medicaid Agency is testing in nine counties a Web-based electronic health record system that provides physicians with access to patients' medical histories, the Birmingham News reports.
The EHR pilot is part of the Alabama Medicaid Agency's "Together for Quality Initiative." The agency started the initiative in 2007 with a $7.6 million federal grant that lasts through March 2010.
The nine counties participating in the pilot are:
- Calhoun;
- Houston;
- Jefferson;
- Lamar;
- Montgomery;
- Pickens;
- Talladega;
- Tuscaloosa; and
- Winston.
So far, the Medicaid Agency has trained 59 health care provider sites to use the EHR system and plans to train more Medicaid providers in mid-January. In February, electronic prescribing will be added to the EHR system (Velasco, Birmingham News, 12/20).