HHS touts Washington provider's health IT success

Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Kathleen Sebelius has released a report on how the Columbia Basin Health Association (CBHA) has used health IT to transition paper based-charts into an EMR system, making it one of the first in the United States to fully complete the switchover to an EHR.<br /><br />CBHA, located in Othello, Wash., also has partnered with the nearby Othello Community Hospital, enabling both organizations to have access to one another’s systems.<br /><br />The provider has been using the new solutions to improve patient outcomes. CBHA, which provides medical, dental and prescription services to nearly 25,000 patients in central Washington, used its EMR system to better track 1,302 diabetic patients. The staff monitored whether patients received recommended exams and then provided feedback to healthcare providers on their performance.<br /><br />In January 2008, only 31 percent of diabetic patients at CBHA had received a foot exam and only 37 percent had received an eye exam during the previous year. By June 2008, 86 percent of patients had received a foot exam and 63 percent had received an eye exam over the previous year, according to HHS. <br /><br />CBHA spokesperson Erin Ingalls said that the transition process began in January 2000 with the installment of ChartLogic's EMR software. It took two years to phase in the change to EMR from paper charting, as it was done one provider at a time. In 2007, CBHA switched to GE Healthcare’s Centricity Practice Solutions 2006 EMR, which is still in use.<br /><br />Since implementation, provider productivity at CBHA has roughly doubled. According to the Bureau of Primary Healthcare, CBHA is “consistently ranked above the 95^thpercentile nationally in total medical and dental team productivity.”<br /><br />The phased-in implementation included extensive staff training on the systems over the nine-year period.<br /><br />“[EHRs] made it a lot easier for everyone,” said Ingalls. “It betters the continuity of care so our providers can seek medical records from the hospital. The fact that they are able to pull up a patient’s medical record that includes their treatment at any of our clinics has been invaluable.”<br /><br />The HHS report concluded that the transitions for both medical and dental records for those living in rural communities has been successful in the improvement of healthcare quality and patient safety, assisting in clinical decision making and in the use of evidence-based guidelines.<br />