Clients – Continue in the spirit of UCC Principles by offering superior client care and education through user-friendly, highly accessible and coordinated information tailored to patient needs. Partners – Deliver immediate and necessary level of transparency with our partners, providing swift, consistent answers — even to casual questions. Competition – Set the local, regional and national standard for excellence in the industry through the use of state-of-the-art services for those with the highest needs. Regulatory and compliance – Be “audit ready” 24x7x365. Technical – Connect all areas of the organization to offer flexibility and increase functionality. What does an electronic health record include? An EHR typically includes contact information, family history, records of immunization and hospitalization. It may also include other information: visits to health care professionals, allergies, insurance information, conditions or diseases, list of medications and information about surgeries or procedures performed. Where will the records be located? AWARE’s EHR system will be in a self-hosted data center in Missoula, which will be brought online in December. It will provide redundancy, security and efficiency, and it will power all of AWARE’s IT needs. What is Afia and what should AWARE expect from the company? Afia Inc. is a health information technology (IT) consulting
firm based in Ann Arbor, Mich., that works with community health centers, behavioral health organizations, physician groups, primary care, public health and other medical practices to implement IT systems and strategies to create more efficient and effective health care organizations. “We understand that often, deciding on, learning and working with new technologies can be frustrating and intimidating, so we make sure people are taken care of as much as the technology,” the company says on its website. “Because of that, our customers confidently make informed decisions.” Afia is a Swahili term meaning “health.” What is Netsmart? Netsmart, with offices in Kansas, New York, Ohio and Illinois, helps health and human services organizations transform care through “the collaborative, coordinated management and exchange of clinical data across the care spectrum and through effective practice management that improves revenue cycle management.”
According to Netsmart, more than 21,000 client organizations, including 350,000 care providers and more than 40 state systems, use its solutions to help improve the quality of life for millions of people each year. AWARE will use Netsmart’s myEvolv, a web-based “meaningful use certified” EHR system that will integrate and manage client data from intake to discharge. The program was chosen for its ability to support AWARE’s needs and processes. The system implemen8
tation and adoption process will also provide many opportunities to make internal process improvement changes. Meaningful use is the set of standards defined by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) Incentive Programs that governs the use of electronic health records and allows eligible providers and hospitals to earn incentive payments by meeting specific criteria. The goal of meaningful use is to promote the spread of electronic health records to improve health care in the United States. The benefits of the meaningful use of EHRs include: Complete and accurate information. With electronic health records, providers have the information they need to provide the best possible care. Providers will know more about their patients and their health history before they walk into the examination room. Better access to information. Electronic health records facilitate greater access to the information providers need to diagnose health problems earlier and improve the health outcomes of their patients. Electronic health records also allow information to be shared more easily among doctors’ offices, hospitals and across health systems, leading to better coordination of care. Patient empowerment. Electronic health records will help empower patients to take a more active role in their health and in the health of their families. Patients can receive electronic copies of their medical records and share their health information securely over the Internet with their families.