We’ve long believed that many policy dilemmas are most effectively solved when policymakers set the parameters, but then let the market figure out the best way to get the job done.

A case in point for the world of health IT involves finding ways to get rural, often isolated providers to make the jump to EHRs and other technologies.

Healthland (formerly Dairyland Healthcare Solutions) is one vendor that has focused since its founding on rural healthcare providers. And the company recently announced that six more rural hospitals across Texas have achieved Stage 1 Meaningful Use. After a successful 90-day reporting period of their EHR capabilities, the healthcare providers will now receive funding under the Medicare EHR Incentive Program.

According to Lance Keilers, CEO of Ballinger Memorial Hospital, one of the successful providers, “Physician adoption is the most important hurdle to overcome when looking to achieve Meaningful Use. Healthland understands that and has a product that is intuitive and adheres to rural clinician workflows because it is designed with input from rural community hospitals.”

Keilers, who is also president of the National Rural Health Association, went on to observe that “Our patients in rural America deserve to have access to healthcare where they live; urban areas can’t do it all. Often times it is not feasible for people to travel for their healthcare. Rural hospitals need to be preserved for the 62 million people who call rural America home.”

Calling itself “the only EHR provider focused exclusively on the rural hospital market”, Healthland’s core product is Healthland Centriq, which is “built on a web-based platform, (and is) available anytime, anywhere, on any device connected to the Internet.” The product includes CPOE, clinical documentation, ED, laboratory, radiology and pharmacy capabilities.

More information can be found on the Healthland website.