WASHINGTON – The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services is awarding a $750,000 health information technology grant to Blackstone Valley Community Health Care Inc. to improve the center’s access to electronic health records (EHRs).
The money “will provide BVCHC’s doctors with improved access to electronic patient health records and streamline everyday clinical tasks such as prescribing medications, ordering tests and managing patient care,” U.S. Sen. Jack Reed, who in May had written a letter in support of the grant request, said in a statement yesterday.
“By automating health records, this federal funding will help BVCHC provide more efficient, effective and less costly care,” Reed added. “It will also give doctors access to the critical information they need to treat patients during an emergency, even if the patient is unconscious.”
BV Community Health is receiving the award on behalf of the R.I. Health Center Controlled Network, which also includes the Comprehensive, East Bay and Tritown community action program health centers. The network serves 27,000 patients per year through its three school-based clinics and nine other clinics across Rhode Island.
The grant “will permit all health centers in the network to implement the same technology,” Raymond Lavoie, executive director of BV Community Health, said in a statement. “The added benefit of collaboration among the partners will enhance our collective ability to improve the quality and safety of health care to a large segment of Rhode Island’s patient population.”
The EHR technology has helped streamline patient visits while improving patient education, according to Dr. Sam Ambewadikar, a pediatrician at BV Community Health.
“It has enabled me to see an average of 10 more patients per day, and make myself available to our patients’ families, thereby keeping them out of the local emergency rooms for minor illnesses,” Ambewadikar said. “I find the electronic medical record software an extremely valuable tool for many reasons, and wish only that all health care facilities would be able to implement it sooner.”
Blackstone Valley Community Health Care Inc. is a Pawtucket-based provider of health and dental care whose whose primary-care model stresses prevention, education and patient empowerment. For more information, go to blackstonechc.org.
A full list of community health care centers in Rhode Island is available from the Department of Health’s Office of Primary Care and Rural Health, at www.health.state.ri.us.
