The Massachusetts eHealth Institute (MeHI), after being selected as the official Regional Extension Center (REC) for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, has awarded 'preferred vendor status' to GE Healthcare.

The status, which applies to the company’s Centricity Practice Solution and Centricity Advance electronic medical record (EMR) products, means GE will receive priority listing with the Commonwealth providers expected to seek buying advice from the REC.

The REC will recruit and enroll providers into the REC program and provide or arrange a base set of services for them including orientation education, the List of Preferred EHR Vendors and EHR solutions and a list of implementation optimization organizations (IOO) which have been certified through a separate process.

GE Healthcare IT vice president and general manager Jim Corrigan said that the preferred status is an honor and they look forward to leveraging the status as they assist and educate their customers throughout the Commonwealth along the vital but often complicated path toward digital medical records.

GE Healthcare will work with the REC to advocate assistance to customers and will continue to drive awareness and education around Meaningful Use and Core Clinical Values.