Project: Electronic Health Records (DHI Project #5)
Lead Agency: Delta Health Alliance, Inc. (DHA)
Delta Health Alliance is at the forefront of developing and implementing Health Information Technology (HIT) in the state of Mississippi. The primary goal of this project is to implement Electronic Health Records in provider clinics across the Delta. Currently there are 16 Provider groups, representing 34 physical locations active on the DHA Electronic Health Records (EHR) system. The project staff provide 24/7 support to these clinics as well as bring new clinics up on the system on a regular basis. There are 11 clinics in the implementation phase. Outcomes are being measured in conjunction with the Beacon grant. The project is looking at physician utilization and adherence to best practices with regard to annual screenings and immunizations/vaccines for adults. There are currently 234,147 patients with data on EHR systems.
The following goals have been established for the Electronic Health Records (EHR) project:
- To demonstrate that an electronic medical record-based health management program can lower overall costs of care while improving the revenue for providers,
- To demonstrate that EHR program can lower access barriers by reducing care delays, and improving patient self care efficacy and satisfaction with care,
- To demonstrate that this program will improve access to care for patients with chronic diseases and, as a result of this improved access, patients in the program will enjoy higher quality care and better health outcomes.
The EHR project has three objectives for the 2010 – 2011 funding year, including:
- The addition of new clinic locations with live EHR systems,
- The development and maintenance of a common Enterprise Master Patient Index (eMPI) to facilitate record sharing, automatically facilitate HIPAA compliance, and establish standard protocols for cross-system communications,
- The establishment of a Patient Management (PM) system to provide patient registration and scheduling functionality to providers.
You may email at: beacon@deltahealthalliance.org
