DCH Grant
The pursuit of a HIT based solution, specifically a Health Information Exchange (HIE), was identified as a CCSNPC priority. As a result, the CCSNPC applied for a grant through the Georgia Department of Community Health (DCH) to plan and implement a CCSNPC council-wide health information technology project. CCSNPC was named one of three state HIE demonstration projects by the Georgia DCH and Year 1 funding began in November 2007.The CCSNPC project identified the following goals, to create a base for a Health Information Exchange in Chatham County that offers comprehensive management of medical information and a secure exchange of the information between health care providers and consumers and to begin implementation of Electronic Medical Records and E-prescribing capabilities in the seven community health care collaborator facilities.
In Year One of the grant period, the CCSNPC IT Consortium was formed. Members included representatives from all CCSNPC providers (Curtis V. Cooper Primary Healthcare (CVC), J. C. Lewis Primary Health Care Center (JCLPHCC), Community Health Mission (CHM), St. Mary's Clinic (SM), Good Samaritan (GS), Chatham County Health Department (CCHD), Memorial University Medical Center (MUMC), St. Joseph's/Candler Health Systems (SJC)), the Project Manager, and the CCSNPC chair and Executive Director. Hosted by Savannah Business Group, Gary Rost, Executive Director, the IT Consortium has been chaired by Patty Lavely, CIO of MUMC, since its inception. The IT Consortium meetings and events are open to the community and have been attended by private providers and other guests.
IT Consortium engaged consultants in 2008 to design the Health Information Exchange structure to meet the identified CCSNPC and patient needs. The primary challenge was the linkage of unrelated providers with different EMR systems and the ability to produce reports of de-identified data from the system. CCSNPC providers wanted to retain option of selecting the EMR system right for them and to have control over their own medical records. Safety Net providers have limited funds and staff so any system selected could not place additional workload on provider staff.
IT Consortium members participated in the monthly meetings of the Georgia Department of Community Health Office of Health Information Technology and Transparency and the Georgia Health Information Technology and Transparency Board.
Written progress reports were submitted monthly and presentations were made to the groups on a quarterly basis or as requested.
Read the CCSNPC GA DCH Grant Year 1 evaluation.
Grant Year 2 funding began in January 2009. Many of the steps taken by the IT Consortium continued from Year One through Year Two. The consortium continued to encourage and support the adoption of Electronic Medical Records by Safety Net Providers. Both JCLPHCC and MUMC were early adopters in 2008. JCLPHCC, a Federally Qualified Healthcare Center (FQHC), successfully applied for federal grant funding to purchase their EMR software and practice management systems. MUMC purchased and EMR system for their Emergency Department. Later in 2008, SM and CHM, two volunteer clinics, successfully received grant funding to implement an EMR system together. They began the transfer of patient records to the new system in 2009. Also in 2009, CVC, an FQHC, received Federal Stimulus Funds to purchase an EMR system. CVC is currently in vendor selection process anticipating the selection and purchase of EMR software by the end of 2010. SJC has deferred the adoption of EMR's indefinitely. The CCHD based Ryan White clinic has recently applied for federal funds to adopt an EMR system, and if successful, will become the sixth provider in the CCSNPC family to go electronic.
Based on the work accomplished with the consultants in Year 1, the IT consortium elected to structure the HIE based on a CCSNPC managed Central Data Repository (CDR) with an Enterprise Master Patient Index (EMPI). A Request for Proposals was developed and released. Upon review of the responses based on ability to meet the Pilot Project goals, expandability for the future and affordability, the IT Consortium voted unanimously to pursue a contract with OrionHealth.
The Implementation of Pilot Project began October 15, 2009 with hiring of an IT Implementation Manager experienced in database management. The Pilot Project Participants, JCLPHCC, CCSNPC and MUMC formed a new working group under the IT Implementation manager's direction. JCLPHCC and MUMC would work to establish the secure channels to the CDR along with the HL7 messaging while CCSNPC functioned as manager of database and holder of software licenses. Throughout the implementation process, weekly conference calls were held between the Pilot Project working group and the Orion Health team. The CCSNPC HIE Pilot Project went live in April 2010. Members of the CCSNPC voted to name the HIE project, ChathamHealthLink in May 2010.
Read more about ChathamHealthLink.
Throughout Grant Year 2, IT Consortium members continued to participate in the monthly meetings of the Georgia Department of Community Health Office of Health Information Technology and Transparency and worked with various subcommittees of the Georgia Health Information Technology and Transparency Board. Written progress reports were submitted monthly and presentations were made to the groups on a quarterly basis or as requested. The GA DCH grant was retired as of March 30, 2010.
Read the CCSNPC GA DCH Grant Year 2 final report..
