About the National Learning Consortium (NLC)

The National Learning Consortium (NLC) represents a collective body of knowledge and resources designed to support health care providers and Health IT professionals working towards the implementation, adoption, and meaningful use of certified EHR systems.  The purpose of the NLC is to:

• Create an evolving body of knowledge designed to support  providers and professionals in achieving meaningful use
• Identify and share leading practices from the field that can be used throughout all phases of the EHR implementation
• Solve key challenges providers are experiencing in the field
• Maintain a consolidated and centralized location that houses valuable tools, resources and training

Resources, training, and tools are available in the following areas:

• Change Management in EHR Implementation
• Privacy and Security
• Vendor Selection and Management
• Health Workforce Issues
• Workflow Redesign
• Meaningful Use  
• Health Information Exchange
• Rural Health
• Consumer Engagement
• Public Health

How NLC resources are created

In 2013, ONC’s Office of Provider Adoption Support (OPAS) launched a monthly situational awareness process to understand and address common barriers in the field. OPAS conducts a monthly analysis of site-level barrier data from the REC Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system, which is combined with feedback received from Regional Extension Centers (RECs), Communities of Practice(s) (CoPs), and internal and federal stakeholders.  Resources are then generated on a monthly basis and vetted by RECs, CoPs and Health IT Vanguards.

Knowledge Sharing through Communities of Practice (CoPs)

CoPs are knowledge sharing communities consisting primarily of REC staff members and stakeholders. In the near future, CoPs will broaden to include health care providers and Health IT professionals. CoPs support primary community needs for inquiry, issues, development, and innovations.

• Inquiry: CoP members seek information relevant to their job or services
• Issues: CoP members seek solutions to problems they are encountering while working or providing services
• Development: CoP members develop shared resources for use by the broader community
• Innovations: CoP members work together to seek better ways to do things or redefine the current paradigm

The overall purpose of the CoP is to assist providers in achieving meaningful use. However, each CoP focuses on specific areas of interest.

1. Rural Health – Focus on assisting all entities working in rural areas adopt and meaningfully use EHR systems.
2. Public Health – Increase Public Health collaboration between Public Health Associations, RECs, and state Health Information Exchange members.
3. Meaningful Use - Develop and share tools, information and provide education that facilitates the meaningful use of certified EHRs to optimize care by professionals and hospitals.
4. Interoperability and Health Information Exchange -
   • Set a standard definition for functional interoperability and the steps along the continuum of data exchange
   • Leverage existing and newly developed tools and resources to support the continuity of care across health care organizations by using interoperable data and exchange
   • Provide thought leadership for HITECH programs to operationalize interoperable data exchange in real world settings that would be vendor neutral and platform dependent
5. Privacy and Security – Educate privacy and security staff from all RECs on how to help providers conduct security risk analysis and other related work.
6. Consumer Health - Working in collaboration with providers to optimize patient access to their health records through view, download, and transmit measures while promoting the evolution of healthcare IT in physical practices.
7. Medical Home - supports provider practices to effectively use enabled health IT to become patient-centered medical homes. In response to payer, state, and federal initiatives related to the medical home, the CoP is driving 500 provider practices in 2014 to attain medical home recognition/accreditation using Meaningful Use (MU) functionality. The Medical Home CoP provides an innovative forum leveraging expertise in Meaningful Use, EHRs and HIEs, and clinical expertise in care delivery transformation to share, discuss, and develop tools and resources supporting provider practices.
8. Accountable Care Organization - Purpose is for RECs to collectively work together to develop outreach, education, and technical assistance strategies to further support health care providers meet their accountable care goals.