Central Texas FQHC Launches Epic EHR to Boost Interoperability

Central Texas Community Health Centers and its affiliate CommUnityCare Health Centers, a federally qualified health center (FQHC), has deployed Epic EHR to increase interoperability between its 27 locations throughout Travis County.

CommUnityCare tapped Epic Systems to provide a comprehensive and interoperable EHR to each one of its nearly 125,000 patients to ultimately boost patient care, the health center said.

The FQHC provides low-and-no-cost care to Travis County’s vulnerable and uninsured population.

”As a large safety net provider, we provide care for those most at risk for an adverse health outcome given that almost 60% of the approximate 125,000 patients we serve annually are uninsured with 90% plus of our patients identified as low income.” Jaeson Fournier, MPH, CEO of CommUnityCare, said in a statement.

“In order to achieve greater health equity for those we serve, CommUnityCare needed a health records system inclusive of robust point of care decision support, population health analytics, and enhanced patient engagement functionality,” Fournier continued. “Epic is and was the right solution and provides the state-of-the-art tool that our care teams, clinicians and patients have needed and deserved.”

Before the launch, CommUnityCare leveraged Epic EHR at its local COVID-19 vaccine clinics, which was vital in administering the vaccine to underserved communities.

Epic’s EHR software will offer CommUnityCare patient outreach tools to reach priority populations. These tools include patient scheduling, mobile workflows, and real-time reporting to public health authorities.

Epic says its interoperability levelallows each healthcare facility or vaccination facility to share patient information with Epic facilities and other providers that do not run Epic EHR software. Facilities can also exchange patient data with state public health departments, communicating that data with the CDC.

Two CommUnityCare’s its top vaccine clinics, Rosewood Zaragosa and Burleson, administered up to 500 daily vaccines. These two clinics primarily cover Latino and African American individuals, two of the most disproportionately impacted populations by the COVID-19 pandemic.

The FQHC’s staff utilized Epic’s Rover app to improve vaccination documentation for up to 5,000 daily weekend vaccinations. Thus far, the app has streamlined the documentation process and boosted patient care, CommUnityCare said.

“The at-risk communities we serve are three times more likely to be diagnosed with COVID and two times more like die from the disease,” explained Alan Schalscha, MD, CommUnityCare CMO. “The utilization of Rover facilitated our primary prevention strategies and ultimately helped save lives.”

The FQHC said the Epic platform would promote interoperability between Central Texas Community Health Centers and its other 29 healthcare facilities.

A CommUnityCare patient can utilize Epic’s Care Everywhere interoperability network to make her health records accessible to a separate healthcare facility in the system, or an independent healthcare facility out of the CommUnityCare system that also uses Epic, the organization said.

A Central Texas Community Health Center clinician or any CommUnityCare clinician can also view or access any EHR, which improves clinician communication and patient care, the FQHC said.

CommUnityCare also boasted its new patient portal, MyChart.

A patient can schedule appointments, place orders for prescription refills, communicate with providers, and view health history and lab results through the patient portal. A patient can access the patient portal on her mobile phone or computer.

Community hospitals across the country are implementing Epic EHR.

Last month, Newport Hospital and Health Services (NHHS), a rural hospital that serves northeast Washington and northern Idaho, implemented Epic EHR to increase interoperability between the hospital and the other 14 members of the Northwest Rural Health Network.

NHHS said it will leverage the Community Connect model, which the organization said is a cost-effective program that allows hospitals to connect to a larger local hospital in order to connect to the Epic EHR network. It enhances interoperability with the nearby health system, thus increasing referrals and providing a lower cost EHR implementation.