Health Care Delivery

HIT

Health information technology (HIT), including electronic health records (EHR) and practice management systems (PMS), is a fundamental element of modern health care delivery. Like many safety-net providers, family planning providers have encountered a number of obstacles to implementing HIT. Many lack the resources to acquire, implement, and maintain HIT systems.

NFPRHA's Work

NFPRHA advocates for policies to allocate resources to and improve HIT adoption by publicly funded family planning systems. Additionally, NFPRHA’s Life After 40: The Family Planning Network and the ACA project provides resources, trainings, and solutions to help family planning providers with HIT adoption and improvements in their own centers. 

Resources

NFPRHA Case Studies

• Steps to Group Purchasing of an Electronic Health Record System (PDF) - Assists your agency through the process of EHR purchasing and customization using Indiana Family Health Council as a model (December 2013).

Policy Briefs

• Challenges and Opportunities for Family Planning Health Centers in Implementing Health Information Technology (PDF) - Analysis focused on family planning providers’ specific challenges and opportunities in implementing HIT (August 2010).

NFPRHA Regulatory Comments

• NFPRHA Comments to the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology on the HIT Strategic Plan (PDF) - Comments to the Obama administration regarding family planning-specific concerns on HIT adoption (May 2011).
  
  
• NFPRHA Comments on Meaningful Use of HIT (PDF) - Comments to the Obama administration on issues important to family planning providers related to the meaningful use of HIT (March 2010).

Other Resources:

• Family Planning Centers and the Adoption of Health Information Technology (HTML) - Guttmacher Institute analysis of the challenges and opportunities for family planning providers in adopting HIT (Fall 2009). 
  
  
• HHS: Office of the National Coordinator, HealthIT.gov (HTML) - Government website with resources and information about HIT regulations and federal funding opportunities.

For additional resources & information, access NFPRHA fact sheets and federal comments by issue or read NFPRHA's publications and recent press statements.