Advanced Electronic Health Record technology, normally well out of the price range for a nonprofit clinic of our size, will go on line in early 2012
A big change in patient care is coming to the People’s Health Clinic. In December, Clinic Executive Director Nann Worel was excited to announce the donation of an Electronic Medical Records system by Management Plus.
The Clinic will use the software to further provide accurate and excellent care, thanks to the alerts and reminders the software provides during each patient contact. Medical Director Dr. Bob Pellegrine, after a recent orientation offered by Management Plus, said, “The more I hear about the system, the more I see we’ll be able to do with it.”
Staff Doctor John Hanrahan anticipates a huge improvement in continuity of care. “Right now, if a patient we have been treating comes in with an ear infection, we will immediately see the rest of his history. We might note, for example, that we recommended he see our volunteer ophthalmologist, and here are the results of that visit.”
“We’re seeing a lady now who has had anemia for 4 years. It’s been assumed that she was iron deficient. When we rechecked her in November and she was anemic again, we started her on iron. She came back 2 weeks ago, with same level of anemia. Dr. Bob leafed through the entire chart and saw that we had yet to confirm the cause of her anemia, and with no improvement after taking iron, we now have to figure out what the cause really is. With an Electronic Health Record, you have immediate easy access to all the labs. On one page every blood test is visible, and we would see that we hadn’t given the complete iron panel. When you’ve got 4 patients in rooms waiting, it’s hard to look through 35 pages of a chart. “
And, with the Clinic relying on our wonderful volunteer medical providers, there is an even greater need to have the most complete information available to each doctor a patient sees. Test results, medication changes, treatment changes, outside referrals – everything will be there.
The increased ability to gather and submit summary information on patients will also make it easier for PHC to apply for and receive additional grant funding in future seasons as well.
Over the course of 2012, the EHR, as it’s known, will become a bigger and bigger part of Clinic life. Starting with administration, where it will be used in scheduling patients and keeping data on patient visits and demographics, it will move into Clinic use. Staff doctors will learn the system, then introduce it to volunteers. We’ll keep you updated on our progress.
Again, we thank ManagementPlus owner Christine Archibald for giving us this opportunity. At an estimated cost of $140,000, it is a huge gift, and its impact of quality of life for our patients will be dramatic and ongoing.
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