chathamhealthlink

J.C.L.P.H.C.C

Chatham County Safety Net Planning

Council(CCSNPC)

ChathamHealthLink

The BasicsWhy and How?

CCSNPC History/Goals

• Formed in 2004 by the Chatham County Commission

• Lead by Chatham County Health Department as neutral convener

• Composed of representatives from both hospital systems, providers of health care to the uninsured, city and county government, local non-profit agencies and citizen groups

• Charged with working together to find efficient and effective methods to improve access to and quality of health care delivery to uninsured Chatham County citizens

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Methods

• Annual Evaluation to monitor trends in demand and successes in providing service

• Community Needs Assessments to gather information about specific health care needs

• Strategic Planning to meet emerging needs identified in evaluation and needs assessments

• Seeking of grants to implement projects on behalf of entire Council

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Information TechnologyHealth Information Technology was identified as the solution to gaps

in quality of care in 2005 Strategic Planning Session

Evaluation trends revealed that Patients• Seek care in multiple locations

• Have medical information scattered among various providers • Have medical records at individual providers that are likely to be incomplete • And are vulnerable to errors due to missing information

And that Chatham County Safety Net Planning Council • Had an unknown amount of duplication of data in evaluation reports• Was extremely limited in producing valid data by paper records and limited staff to

review them• Could follow trends in access but could not follow health outcomes

4

J. C. Lewis Health CenterElectronic Medical Records

Memorial Univ Med Center

Emergency Department

Electronic Medical Records

The Solution

As the first step, J. C. Lewis and the MUMC Emergency Department adopted Electronic Medical Records systems.





Although the records are stored digitally in computer systems, the two systems cannot communicate without a secure network.





ChathamHealthLink allows the two systems to communicate by sending summaries of patient records to a central database managed by the Chatham County Safety Net

Planning Council.

Secure Private

Channel

Secure

Private

Channel





Data sent to the central database travels through a secure private channel called a Virtual Private Network or VPN tunnel.

Secure Private

Channel

Secure

Private

Channel

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EncountersAllergies/AlertsMedicationsLaboratory TestsRadiology Studies

An example begins with a patient visit to

J.C. Lewis.

Information about the patient and the visit is sent to the central database. A program in the database matches the patient to a previous record or creates a new record for a new

patient.

Secure Private

Channel

Secure

Private

Channel





Clinical Care Information


When the same patient visits the Emergency Department, an authorized user, can access the database. This allows them to gain valuable information about the patient’s

medical condition.

Clin

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form

ation

Secure Private

Channel

Secure

Private

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Emergency Visit Sum

mary







When the patient is discharged from the Emergency Department (ED), the discharge summary is sent to the central database and J. C. Lewis is notified that new information

is available from the ED.

Secure Private

Channel

Secure

Private

Channel

Clin

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ation

Emergency Visit Sum

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isit

Sum

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EncountersAllergies/Alerts

MedicationsLaboratory Tests

Radiology Studies

Each provider can both load information and look at information for their patients.

Here is an example of the screen an authorized provider sees when accessing a patient’s record in the database.



Radiology Studies

CCSNPC

CCSNPC

CCSNPC

CCSNPC

CCSNPC

CCSNPC

Soon, all CCSNPC providers will participate in ChathamHealthLink.

ChathamHealthLinkOur Health Information Exchange will

Provide Patients• With a central complete record in the CCSNPC database• Reduction of the same paperwork multiple times• Reduction of repeat testing- labs, radiology, etc.• Avoid delays in appropriate care and medical errors

Provide Healthcare Providers • Complete, secure, easily accessible electronic records• Communication among providers through secure, safe protected electronic portals

with information updates in real time• Ability to see complete information and avoid duplication and errors

Provide Chatham County Safety Net Planning Council • With unduplicated records and accurate counts of patients served• Ability to follow trends in access AND health outcomes• Secure repository of patient records in case of emergency evacuation

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Radiology Studies

CCSNPC

Hospitals

Public Health

Correctional Health

Private Providers

Behavioral Health

State HIE’s

Eventually, ChathamHealthLink will be able to include all area providers as long as they have Electronic Medical Records. In addition, our HIE will be able to communicate with

other HIE’s across Georgia and the US.

chathamhealthlink

Health & Medicine

medical information

paper records

summaries of patient

health information exchange

patients medical condition

providers of health

health outcomes

specific health care