Washington FQHC Adopts EHR Services to Expand Patient Care Access
The federally qualified health center will implement NextGen Healthcare’s EHR services to assist with opening more clinic locations in Washington state.
Community Health Center of Snohomish County (CHC of Snohomish County), a nonprofit federally qualified health center (FQHC) in Washington state, has adopted EHR services to increase patient access to affordable care.
CHC of Snohomish County operates five dental, seven medical, and two walk-in clinics in Puget Sound. The health center serves around 70,000 individuals each year, providing medical, dental, pharmacy, nutrition, behavioral health, and substance use disorder services to Snohomish County residents.
The healthcare organization said it will implement NextGen Healthcare’s ambulatory EHR software to expand care access and simplify its billing process. The center will adopt the vendor’s practice management, population health, and patient experience platform services as well.
“NextGen Healthcare’s integrated platform with patient-centric and provider-friendly tools helps our team make better decisions, increases the bottom line, and provides an outstanding patient experience,” Ben Luety, chief financial officer for CHC of Snohomish County, stated in the press release.
The health center aims to increase its number of clinic locations and boost patient access to healthcare services with this EHR implementation. The vendor’s documentation and workflow services, data interoperability and exchange, and knowledge of FQHC requirements will help CHC of Snohomish County achieve its goals, according to the organizations.
The health center serves patients on Medicaid, Medicare, Medicare Advantage, Tricare, certain private insurances, and uninsured individuals. CHC aims to help residents overcome healthcare barriers and access affordable primary care services.
NextGen Healthcare comes recommended by other healthcare organizations, separate surveying has shown. Particularly, the EHR vendor ranks well for EHR user training.
NextGen Healthcare works to increase clinical productivity, improve patient experience, and guarantee positive financial outcomes with its slew of EHR solutions. Customers previously gave the vendor a 7.5 out of 9 for ambulatory EHR training, a KLAS report revealed.
The vendor received higher than an 8 for EHR personalization, as well. NextGen customers said that the vendor had improved products to meet user needs and was flexible regarding providers’ ability to customize workflows to fit their needs.
The KLAS report also noted that the vendor received a 7.6 for EHR support of patient-centered care.
In addition to EHR software, health information exchanges (HIEs) can also help providers deliver patient-centered care. When providers are a part of an HIE, they can access and share patient data with other providers more easily. Organizations in HIEs may also receive cost-savings due to shared health IT services.
Federally qualified health centers that join HIEs may boost care coordination and increase access to patient data. For example, Arroyo Vista Family Health Center in Los Angeles, California joined the Los Angeles Network for Enhanced Services (LANES) nonprofit HIE. The health center aimed to improve patient care by leveraging the HIE’s data insights and population health tool, much like how CHC of Snohomish Country adopted EHR software to improve patient care access.