Mississippi's Family Health Network recently implemented a unified system encompassing electronic medical records (EMR) and practice management (PM) to better coordinate patient care and to provide cost-efficient, high quality medical/dental services to Mississippians regardless of their ability to pay.

 

Family Health Care Clinic, Inc., which manages federally, qualified health centers throughout the state, decided to pursue a unified solution for its 17 clinics in Brandon, Brookhaven, Calhoun City, Columbia, Flowood, Grenada, Meadville, Mendenhall, Monticello, New Hebron, Pearl, Pelahatchie, Prentiss, Raleigh, Tylertown, Winona, and Woodville.

 

As with any government entity, knowing what's needed to make information flow smoother, and securing a vendor to meet requirement needs is a tall order.

 

"The first criteria was that the EMR system had to be certified by federal standards," said Margaret Gray, DPA, president and CEO of Family Health Care Clinic, Inc.

 

Federal standards certify that systems can communicate with other certified systems and are able to track and report on minimum health outcomes. They are also able to meet the national medical coding requirements and can be updated as changes occur.

 

"There were only 17 in the country at the time," said Gray, who sent all qualified vendors a Request for Information (RFI), detailing a comprehensive list of questions and responses that had been recommended from a workshop prepared by the funding source – the Department of Health and Human Services. For varying reasons, only seven responded.

 

Clinton Mayes, chief information officer, prepared a comparison list for a committee comprised of physicians, nurses, front desk and management staff. 

 

"It was very clear from this report the initial pros and cons," said Gray. "Through ranking the systems that meet our needs, the list was eliminated to four by the committee."

 

After seeing demonstrations and making site visits to the four companies, "it appeared that everyone agreed that all of the systems would meet our minimum requirements," said Gray. "However, two were favored over the others." 

 

Because the first requirement was for the systems to be certified, the committee waited to see which of the four candidates would be re-certified for 2008. Massachusetts-based eClinicalWorks was the only one.

 

"Since eClinicalWorks was one of the two preferred over the four," said Gray, "it was selected."

 

eClinicalWorks' solution provides less duplication, quicker access to clinical records and easier access across the network of clinics, better tracking of procedures and clinical outcomes, and improved coding of medical procedures.

 

"Some of the outcomes that the organization plans to improve upon are outcomes for diabetes, hypertension, pap smears, and childhood immunizations," said Gray.

 

Because of the economic downturn in late 2008, Mississippi's Family Health Network postponed the final agreement until this spring. To implement the solution, Family Health Care Clinic is working with Curas, a value added reseller in Saint Louis. The implementation began in May and the network expects to be live at the end of July with all 17 clinics. Family Health Care Clinic expects to bring their central billing office live in August.

 

"Deciding what EMR/PM solution was best for our network required collaboration from an EMR committee comprised of all stake holders within our clinics, from practicing physicians to billing professionals and management," said Gray. "It's imperative that you have the required teamwork, support and buy in from all healthcare providers to help insure a successful project."