SAN FRANCISCO – Nonprofit Cal-REC is expecting this week a notice of intent to be funded as a Regional Extension Center (REC) under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act's Health IT Extension Program, which set aside $30 million for 70 extension centers.

Cal-REC was recently formed by the California Medical Association, the California Primary Care Association (CPCA) and the California Association of Public Hospitals, said Carmela Castellano-Garcia, president and CEO of CPCA, told attendees at the Regional Healthcare Stimulus Exchange Conference here on Jan. 19.

The Department of Health and Human Services will award 70 nonprofit organizations through two rounds of funding, she said. Awardees must serve at least 1,000 priority primary care physicians and target individual and small physician practices, community and rural health centers, public and critical access hospital and other settings that provide service to the underserved in the community. Cal-REC will target the 7,300 priority primary care physicians in the state, excluding those in L.A. Care and CalOptima's regions.

Up to $30 million plus $750,000 in core support funding will be available per REC, she said. The four-year plan calls for RECs to match 10 percent of the funding to the federal match of 90 percent for the first two years.

The third and fourth year reverse the matching, requiring the RECs to come up with 90 percent of the funding. "This is going to be a big challenge for the RECs," Castellano-Garcia said.

The other more pressing challenges for Cal-REC is finding a permanent executive director to lead the seven-person staff, going live with e-prescribing and quality reporting once contracts are signed, and achieving its first milestone in three months.

The objective is to deliver outreach, education and technical assistance services to priority primary care physicians and facilitate the adoption of certified EHRs and the achievement of meaningful use, she said. Cal-REC's hub-and-spoke infrastructure will include local extension centers and service providers.

The California Safety Net Coalition, representing 20 safety net organizations, will serve on the advisory board, and the Public Health Institute will serve as the public policy and fiscal agent.

Cal-REC will have representation in northern and southern California, but not overlap with L.A. Care and CalOptima, the state's other first-round REC applicants serving Los Angeles and Orange counties, respectively.

"The vision is a collaborative process that balances the efficiencies of a statewide governance model and shared services with the expertise and experience of regional entities that can provide direct service to providers," Castellano-Garcia said.