HHS, AHIMA and North Shore Medical Labs, Inc., Announce Partnership to Provide Health IT Training and Electronic Health Records.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' (HHS) Office of Minority Health, the American Health Information Management Association (AHIMA), and North Shore Medical Labs, Inc., of Williston Park, NY, today announced a demonstration project to foster broader adoption and use of electronic health records (EHRs) and support national efforts to reduce health disparities affecting minorities.

AHIMA will provide free health IT training to providers and staff in underserved communities, and North Shore will donate electronic health record (EHR) software and services through Nortec Software, Inc. The demonstration program will assist physicians in small practices in Alabama, Mississippi and North Carolina.

"The Office of Minority Health is pleased to support another innovative and timely health IT project in the growing portfolio of important work on health disparities,” said Deputy Assistant Secretary for Minority Health Garth N. Graham, MD. "We congratulate both AHIMA and North Shore Medical Labs for creating and coordinating this effort, and hope this initiative will stimulate more efforts to extend the use of EHRs in smaller practices and underserved communities that face special challenges in acquiring and implementing this technology."

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