Media Advisory

 For Release:  June 16, 2008
Contact: Pamela Williams
Office of Communications
405/271-5601

Oklahomans Hold Formal Ceremony to Receive CMS Electronic Health Records (EHRs) Demonstration Project Award – TODAY!

WHO:              Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Acting Administrator Kerry Weems
                       Oklahoma Secretary of Health Dr. Michael Crutcher
                       Dean of the OU College of Medicine Dr. Dewayne Andrews
                       Dr. Russell Kohl, M.D., family practitioner from Vinita, Oklahoma       

WHAT:            Stakeholders and community partners will be recognized as recipients of CMS EHRs demonstration project.

WHEN:            Monday, June 16, 2008
                       10:00 a.m.
                       Media availability to follow

 WHERE:         University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center
                       Robert M. Bird Health Sciences Library – Foyer
                       1000 Stanton L. Young Blvd.
                       Oklahoma City, OK  73117

BACKGROUND:  CMS Acting Administrator Kerry Weems will meet with Oklahoma Secretary of Health Dr. Michael Crutcher, as well other stakeholders, community and business leaders, providers, and health plans. Oklahoma is being named one of 12 sites that will participate in a Medicare demonstration project that offers incentives to physicians for using electronic health records to improve patient care.  Primary care physician practices across the nation will receive Medicare incentive payments in exchange for adopting certified EHRs.  Health information technology is a cornerstone of value-driven health care to provide timely, quality information so consumers can make better-informed health choices.