Texas Medical Association Special Funds Foundation

Initiative to improve patient safety through physician education and adoption of electronic health records

Executive Summary: The Texas Medical Association Special Funds Foundation carried out an educational program aimed at increasing adoption of health information technology (HIT) by medical offices. The project brought together representatives and supporting vendors of all regional health information organizations in Texas and helped establish the Texas Medical Association as a strong stakeholder and leader in HIT and health information exchange. Relevant resources created under the grant are available on the TMA website. After the completion of the grant, TMA’s department of HIT continued the efforts to provide tools and resources to help physicians better understand electronic medical record selection and implementation. Additionally, TMA maintained two of the grant-funded staff and added one more to support its work in understanding physician needs around EMR adoption and utilization. In 2009, The Physicians Foundation awarded a grant of $50,500 to update the Guide to include new information relevant to the adoption of EMRs.

Website: http://www.texmed.org/MUToolkit/