Lana’i Community Health Center
On the Hawaiian island of Lana’i
The Client
Lana’i Community Health Center (LCHC), located on the Hawaiian island of Lana’i, serves a target population living at or below 200% of the federal poverty level, as well as those who are uninsured or underinsured. The practice is a non-profit organization dedicated to serving the community regardless of their ability to pay for services. LCHC was awarded Federally Qualified Health Center (FQHC) 330e status in 2007, and has provided primary care, behavioral health, dental, vision, and other clinical services since 2008.
The Situation
Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHCs) play a key role in providing affordable and accessible health care to underserved communities regardless of a patient’s ability to pay. FQHCs such as LCHC receive federal funding to support their work in providing primary and preventive care. To maintain this funding, the practice must adhere to a specific set of requirements, and report to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) on a regular basis to ensure they are meeting quality standards for care and operation.
The Client's Need
LCHC recognized a number of improvements that could be made in their practice through better use of their eClinicalWorks® system. They knew they weren’t using eCW to its full potential, and that their workflows and efficiencies could be dramatically improved by eliminating duplicate steps and manual processes such as faxing referrals and medical records. In addition, they were facing billing, claims management and collections challenges that they felt could be addressed through proper optimization of their eClinicalWorks® billing. All of these items are of great importance when it comes to reporting key measures for FQHC status, and the team at LCHC needed their eClinicalWorks® EMR to work for them rather than them working around the system.
Ero Health has served as the direct contact for the LCHC team for several years, supporting the practice through their eClinicalWorks® go-live and helping them learn all of the features and functionality in eClinicalWorks®. LCHC knew that Ero Health had many years of experience working with medical practices across the United States, and wanted to leverage their knowledge to implement best practices. The Ero Health team began by examining LCHC’s workflows, identifying processes that would build efficiencies while crafting a plan to optimize eClinicalWorks® to function, collect data, and report on key items in a manner most useful to the practice. The following solutions were implemented:
- Optimization of eClinicalWorks® to leverage the system to its
fullest potential - Creation of templates and order sets to assist with documentation
needed for FQHC reporting - Development and implementation of improved processes for
all departments - Implementation of a Super User team in each department for
on-site support - Ongoing Ero Health support to ensure smooth operation and assist
with troubleshooting - Creation of streamlined standards of care throughout the practice
- Optimization of eClinicalWorks® billing
The Results
LCHC has experienced a number of advancements since optimizing their eClinicalWorks® and workflows with Ero Health. The practice is seeing better documentation, as they now have the system and process in place to enter data more efficiently, allowing it to be easily pulled and analyzed for reporting purposes. Productivity across all departments, including front desk, medical, dental, vision, CHW, referrals and behavioral health has improved due to automation of key tasks and enhanced workflows.
Every practice is different.
Technology is a tool to help you reach your goals, and we know that each practice’s situation, challenges and vision are unique. The Ero Health team is standing by to learn about what you’re looking to accomplish and how we may apply eClinicalWorks to help you get there.
