Electronic Medical Record System and Electronic Practice Management System Implementation
Since June 2005, AHP has been working with the Massachusetts League of Community Health Centers (MLCHC) on a long-term project to ensure that all community health centers (CHCs) in Massachusetts transition to integrated and interoperable electronic health record systems.
The project has required the development of a replicable and repeatable approach to the selection, implementation, and maintenance of EHR systems, which has since been proven in over 50 CHC sites. Central to this approach is a focus on end-to-end project management and detailed workflow analysis and optimization, prerequisites to all successful EHR implementations.
There is a specific focus on the following content areas:
- Budgeting
- Vendor Selection
- Project Planning and Management
- Product Configuration
- Overall Project Review and Improvement
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- Readiness Assessment
- Workflow Analysis and Optimization
- Implementation and Deployment
- Training and Support
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In a typical project, the following functional areas were addressed (at a minimum):
- Urgent Care
- Health Benefits
- Medical Records
- Follow-up Appointments
- Social Services Process
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- Phone Triage
- Scheduling
- MA Process
- Encounter Process
- Billing
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- New Patient Registration
- Check-in
- Nursing Procedures
- Pharmacy Process
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In addition, the project has included working with a wide selection of stakeholders including QIOs, DOQ-IT, HRSA, state government hospitals, laboratories, health plans, and EHR vendors to ensure that the overall project, and its individual constituents, aligns with state and Federal initiatives and an overall vision for community health in Massachusetts.
Since the project's inception, community health centers with multiple sites have successfully completed their EHR implementations with support from the MLCHC project team. With 75% of health centers currently using EHRs, the project has propelled Massachusetts and the MLCHC into a position of national leadership in health IT and EHR implementations in community health centers.