HHS touts health IT use at rural health center
By Mary Mosquera
Thursday, October 01, 2009
The Health & Human Services Department (HHS) described in a report released today how a rural community health center in central Washington used its EHR system to improve healthcare quality, patient safety and coordination of care for its growing population of individuals with diabetes. The experience of the Columbia Basin Health Association (CBHA) in Othello, Wash., demonstrates how health information technology can improve healthcare for rural communities, according to the report.
In response to the growing prevalence of diabetes in rural communities, the health center group used their EHR system to better track 1,302 diabetic patients, according to the report, prepared by HHS' Office of Health Reform. The health center monitored whether patients received recommended exams and then provided feedback to physicians on their performance.
The percentage of diabetes patients who received all three recommended exams for diabetes generally is lower for patients in rural areas than in metropolitan areas, the report said. In January 2008, researchers found that only 31 percent of patients had received a foot exam and 37 percent an eye exam during the previous year.
The health center decided to make diabetic care a priority. By June 2008, 86 percent of patients had received a foot exam and 63 percent had received an eye exam over the previous year.
"Since CBHA's implementation of electronic health records, the community health center has consistently ranked above the 95th percentile nationally in total medical and dental team productivity," the report said.
The health center, which provides 25,000 patients with access to a variety of medical, dental, prescription, and other services, was one of the first health centers to transition from paper-based charts to an electronic health record system, the report said.
CBHA also partnered with the nearby Othello Community Hospital to let both organizations have access to each other's EHR systems for improved continuity of care as patients moved between both for treatment, according to the report.
The report is online.
