KENTUCKY REGIONAL EXTENSION CENTER

Kentucky REC  is pleased to introduce you to the 4 Kentuckians named National  Health IT Fellows by the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT (ONC).

Kentucky’s National Health IT Fellows include:
Angela Murphy, MHA of Norton HealthCare in Louisville, KY
Becky Blevins of Ephraim McDowell Fort Logan Hospital in Danville, KY
Kacey Bolton, RN of London Women’s Care in London, KY
Dr. James Gould, MD of Oncology Associates of West Kentucky in Paducah, KY

The prestigious Health IT Fellows program highlights clinicians, administrators, and office staff who have leveraged meaningful use and health IT to improve patient care. The Health IT Fellows are nominated based on their stature as recognized health IT leaders in their communities. ONC selects the Fellows based on a variety of factors, including their experience leveraging meaningful use and their ability to share their experiences to replicate solutions to common health IT challenges. The Fellows represent a variety of unique perspectives, as they come from a multiple clinical and specialty backgrounds, geographic locations, and practice roles. The Health IT Fellows program includes 50 champions representing 28 states.

Health IT Fellows are empowered to work with the local and national community to promote open and productive dialogue around health IT. Kentucky REC will collaborate with these four Kentucky Fellows to share their experience in leveraging health IT and meaningful use to improve patient care. These Fellows will provide grassroots insight and critical feedback on resources and tools our organization has developed. In addition, they will serve as a local resource for providers and stakeholders in our community, offering advice and sharing their challenges and successes with Health IT.

Meet the Fellows:

murphyAngela Murphy

Ms. Angela Murphy, MHA, is Associate Vice President for Physician Development at Norton Healthcare is Louisville, Kentucky. She is also an instructor of health management and health policy at Webster University. Ms. Murphy has worked in the health care arena for over 20 years and has experience with physician relations, strategic planning, quality management, service line operations, and managed care contracting. In her current role, Ms. Murphy is responsible for meaningful use education and operations. She was instrumental in implementing an EHR across Norton Healthcare’s 15 physician offices and led more than 300 eligible providers to meaningful use in just six months. Her efforts have helped Norton Healthcare’s providers exchange quality data, which has improved care coordination and communication with patients.

becky-blevinsBecky Blevins
Becky Blevins is Information Services Project Manager at Ephraim McDowell Health in Danville, Kentucky. With more than ten years of experience in health care information systems, she is an expert in systems integration and has led complex projects integrating disparate electronic health record (EHR) systems to improve patient care. In 2013, Ms. Blevins received a Champion award from the Kentucky Governor’s Office of Electronic Health Information. In addition, Ms. Blevins helped Ephraim McDowell providers achieve meaningful use and improve quality of care. Thanks to her work, providers can use EHRs to identify and provide patients with patient-specific education materials, which help patients and families better manage their health and health care.

kacey-boltonKasey Bolton
Nurse Kacey Bolton, RN, is Clinical Director at London Women’s Care (LWC), an OB/GYN rural health clinic located in London, Kentucky. Nurse Bolton has been a registered nurse for the past fifteen years and is passionate about women’s health. She recently coordinated LWC’s journey to meaningful use and knows firsthand how vital meaningful use and electronic health records (EHRs) are to providing excellent patient care. Her practice is using the EHR system to generate lists of patients with hypertension to provide timely follow-up care. The practice is also using the EHR system to improve overall documentation, and all of the practice’s providers have achieved meaningful use.

james-gouldJames Gould
Dr. James Gould, MD, is a founding member of Oncology Associates, a rural medical oncology practice based in Paducah, Kentucky. Since 1993, he has been senior medical partner, practitioner, and research coordinator at the practice. When Oncology Associates adopted an electronic health record (EHR) system in 2004, Dr. Gould took the lead on template composition to better serve the clinical needs of oncologists. With the EHR system, Dr. Gould and his colleagues are able to remotely access patient records, enter computerized orders and improve continuity of care for their patients. Dr. Gould is also working as a beta developer with a health care software company to provide next-generation software testing and treatment guidelines for oncologists.

Click here to learn more about the Health IT Fellows Program