The Primary Care Information Project (PCIP) of the NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene aims to improve primary care through the effective use of health information technology, specifically electronic health records (EHRs). PCIP aims to reorganize healthcare around prevention in an effort to maximize population health. PCIP has focused its efforts in District Public Health Office locations in the South Bronx, East and Central Harlem, and Central Brooklyn, where there is a greater concentration of health disparities.

In 2005, Mayor Michael Bloomberg designated tax dollars for a citywide EHR adoption campaign, establishing PCIP. Since then, with the help of additional state, federal, and private funding, PCIP has recruited over 1,500 providers to adopt EHRs, making it the largest community EHR extension project in the country. By the end of 2010, PCIP expects to extend EHRs to 2,500 providers, benefiting a total of 2.5 million patients in NYC.

PCIP implements a number of projects aimed at identifying best practices and sharing these best practices with providers, including small physician practices, community health centers, and independent physician associations. PCIP works with clinical providers to conduct workflow analysis and redesign to optimize EHR use, analyze various EHR reports for quality measure purposes (such as reporting on medication adherence and provider productivity), and pilot a pay-for-performance program for providers using EHRs to evaluate improvements in preventions made possible with EHRs.