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Going digital: Grant funds electronic health record system for 14 area counties
SIKESTON, Mo. — Training is scheduled for four area health departments as they and 10 other Southeast Missouri counties make the move to digital record keeping.
On Aug. 14 and 15, the staffs from the Scott, New Madrid, Mississippi and Pemiscot county health departments will begin electronic records training. Health Department staff from Cape Girardeau, Bollinger, Stoddard and Dunklin counties have already completed training with later dates set aside for Butler, Iron, Ripley, St. Francois, Ste. Genevieve and Washington counties.
The transition to electronic record keeping was made possible through a $743,470 grant from the Missouri Foundation for Health. The grant covers 100 percent of the cost for obtaining the software and training in the first year, and provides 80 percent of the cost of operation for the second year and 20 percent in the third, and final year, of the grant.
With the training taking place at the Scott County Health Department, Barry Cook, Scott Health Department administrator, said that office will be closed Aug. 14 and 15.
“With the electronic health records, we are trying to move all the health departments forward in today’s technology. The training is very important,” Cook said. “We ask everyone to be patient. In the long run this will be good for the county’s residents.”
The New Madrid County Health Department may be closed or only offering limited services during the Aug. 14 and 15 training sessions, according to Jayne Dees, director of the New Madrid County Health Department. While training may cause some inconvenience, Dees emphasized the new system’s many benefits.
“This is what all the doctors and hospitals are going to and we have to keep up with the times,” Dees said. “We feel really fortunate that the Foundation has stepped in to help with public health.”
Electronic health records will enable the departments to process clients more efficiently and improve record retention and access. Because the system is used by other health providers, records can be easily transferred, Dees said.
For the region’s health departments, the health statistics they maintain will be more accurate, said Jane Wernsman, Cape Girardeau County Health Department director. The Cape Girardeau County Health Department is serving as the lead agency for the grant.
“It will help us, we hope, have a better, more streamlined way to collect data on the services we provide,” said Wernsman. “It will help give us an overall view of what we are doing as a public health agency. We will be able to see if we are meeting the needs of our clients or do we need to focus our efforts elsewhere.”
Wernsman and Dees foresee the electronic records resulting in less space for record keeping.
“As we eliminate a lot of the paper files we keep on hand, this will create more space in the office,” Dees said.
Wernsman pointed out that space could then be used to provide additional services for their clients.
Wernsman added the electronic record system should enable the health department to more efficiently bill private insurance providers along with obtaining detailed Medicare and Medicaid information. This could provide additional revenue for the health departments, she said.
Training is scheduled for clerical and medical staff alike on the new system.
“The trainers take us through the system — the nuts and bolts,” Wernsman said. “All the way from the clerical aspects of registration, demographics and billing through maintaining an electronic chart on the medical side.”
Training for the 14 counties is expected to be complete by mid-September. Dees said she expects her office will “go live” with the system the week of Sept. 23.
“We want to assure the public that it is a secure system … with all the HIPAA guidelines to apply,” Wernsman noted.
Dees and Wernsman agreed the registration process may take a little longer initially as the staffs become familiar with the electronic record keeping system. They again asked for the public to be patient.
“We are excited and we are scared at the same time,” Dees acknowledged. “It is a result of the changing of the times and we have to keep up.”
While the 14 counties have worked together on a previous project, Wernsmen described the joint effort to obtain the grant and training for the electronic record keeping system as significant.
“I think it shows the spirit of local public health in Southeast Missouri,” she said. “We work together, not just on the county level but the regional level as well, for the public.”