GA-HITREC Update

 "Our mission is to help Georgia's health care providers select, successfully implement, and meaningfully use certified electronic health record systems to improve clinical outcomes and the quality of care provided to their patients,"

Dominic H. Mack, M.D., Director, GA-HITREC

Deputy Director, Morehouse School of Medicine

http://www.mag.org/pdfs/news_gahitrec_052010.pdf

The Georgia HIT Regional Extension Center (GA-HITREC) is poised to implement its plan to support health care providers in their efforts to become meaningful users of electronic health records (EHR).  The program will focus on three areas to support Georgia's physicians:  education, outreach and technology.

The REC team is in the process of vetting EHR solutions, and will provide a group purchasing agreement (from a selection of EHR vendors), for the state's providers.  In addition to providing a practice analysis, technical assistance and information on best practices, the GA-HITREC plans to assist in the following areas:

· Selecting a certified EHR product

· Achieving effective implementation of a certified EHR product

· Enhancing clinical and administrative workflows to optimally leverage an

EHR system's potential to improve the quality and value of care, including patient experience as well as outcome of care

· Observing and complying with applicable legal, regulatory, professional, and ethical requirements to protect the integrity, privacy, and security of patients' health information

For practices that have already implemented an EHR, the REC team will provide a gap analysis between the existing system and the requirements to meet Meaningful Use standards.   They will also assist these practices in reaching Meaningful Use.

There will be a minimal fee to register with the REC and participate in their services.  The value of having an experienced third party assist with a practice's EHR and Meaningful Use efforts can make major difference in the success of the project. 

LAN Systems can also support your IT efforts in implementing an EHR.  With a complimentary network analysis, we can help you prepare for implementation.  We will also work with your vendor to maintain the technology infrastructure that will support your EHR.  We will keep you updated on Georgia's REC programs and welcome your questions in regards to Georgia's Regional Extension Center services, EHR implementation, technology infrastructure or managed services.  If want to discuss these and other ideas, please call or email liz@lansystems.com.

The Fax Server in the Medical Offices

Whether a Medical Practice has plans to implement an EHR, has no EHR plans or already has an EHR, the fax server is an excellent technology support tool.   While use of an EHR would preclude the printing of most faxes, the ability to electronically receive and store documents such as EOBs, billing inquiries, insurance documentation and personnel documents, can reduce storage, filing and research time within many Practices.  With an EHR, referrals, reports and records can of course all be stored electronically.

A fax server is a special type of fax machine that usually is networked to your server. Most regular fax machines can't be used as a fax server.  An IT professional is usually needed to analyze your fax line requirements and install the fax server.  You can read more about fax servers on Wikipedia at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fax_server.

Advantages over paper fax machines

• Users can send and receive faxes without leaving their desks.
• Any printable computer file can be faxed, without having to first print the document on paper.
• Faxing capability can be integrated with Practice Management and EHR systems to allowing automatic filing of faxes.
• Faxing capability can be integrated with Practice Management and EHR systems to allow automatic generation of faxes.
• Improved document management capabilities.
• Transmitted faxes are more legible and professional-looking.
• If necessary, incoming faxes can be printed on a standard computer printer.
• Reduction in dealing with jams on malfunctioning fax printers with documents that do require "hard copy."
• Incoming faxes that must be printed can be reprinted as needed.
• Reduction in dealing with jams on malfunctioning fax paper feeders, for outgoing documents that are not in an electronic format. 
• Less personnel downtime waiting to use the fax, as the server can queue large numbers of faxes and send each when any of a number of lines is free.
• Reduced paper storage requirements, as well as filing and research time.
• Faxing may be monitored and/or recorded, to adhere to HIPAA regulations and data-retention.
• Incoming junk faxes are not as much of a problem; the server may maintain a blacklist of numbers it will not accept faxes from (or a white list listing all the numbers it will accept calls from), and those that do get through do not waste paper.

It is recommended that you keep your regular fax machine around.  Ideally you'd have it set up on a separate phone line, or could easily "plug it in" so that you have a back up fax machine if your fax server fails, has problems or something else crazy.  It's always nice to have a little redundancy!

It should also be noted that a scanner is often recommended when using a fax server, for those documents that exist in paper form that you wish to fax through the server (if a standard fax machine is not easily accessible).

 Once it's set up, the Medical Office staff will need to learn to how to send electronic faxes, clear out faxes that failed to be sent (ie. fax number is incorrect) and to restart the fax server occasionally.  The staff will also have to learn to check their "fax buckets" for incoming faxes and distribute those appropriately, albeit from the comfort of their desk.  Procedures should be initiated to guide office staff in efficient utilization of the fax server and to insure document management best practices.

There is a cost associated with implementing a fax server, which may include the purchase of hardware, software, installation services and training.  The potential return on this investment can be calculated by considering personnel time, document integrity, paper use reduction and ease of document retention and access.

Discussions about fax servers often lead to questions about number of lines, T-1 vs DSL, load balancing and a variety of other issues, especially when implementation of an EHR is planned.  It is best to determine your infrastructure needs early in your planning stages.