The Boone County Health Center and medical clinics including the Elgin Veterans’ Medical Clinic rolled-out its new electronic health record system on Monday, March 17.
The transition to an electronic management system was a large undertaking involving thousands of hours of staff training, planning, building, installing, testing and more testing.
With the passage of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (HITECH), an electronic medical record system has been the focus for medical providers, hospitals and clinics across the country. “All of our staff got on board with the project early on, which made the transition easier. It was a step-by-step process. “Going-live” is the result of nine months of preparation, “said Tammy Reigle, Cerner Project Manager. The system’s hardware, software and interfacing has been tested multiple times prior the system’s launch. Since the old electronic system is transitioning over to the new Cerner system, patients will need to, one time, resubmit their emergency contact information, a copy of their driver’s license and a copy of their insurance card information to be re-entered in the new electronic health records system. HIPAA information and privacy policy consent forms will also need to be resigned. Individuals will be asked to resubmit this information at the Health Center’s hospital front desk, lab desk or at any of its clinics. Patients will want to allow extra time for check in.
Patient billing was also effected and going through a transition period when Boone County Health Center and Medical Clinics converted to OneChart on March 17. For the time being, any dates of service prior to March 17 will be billed as they are now, in a guarantor or family format, out of the previous computer system. With OneChart, the statements will be patient-based. Each statement will be sent to the patient’s guarantor, but the guarantor will receive a separate statement for each member of the family that has accounts in a self-pay status. There is the potential for families to receive BCHC statements from both systems.
For the complete story, see the print edition of The Elgin Review
