New Funding For School Health Center Technology

February 7th, 2008

Thanks to a major new technology initiative, many New Orleans Metropolitan-area students will soon see improvement in the quality of their health care services.

Supported by more than $745,000 in funding from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, $222,952 from the W.K.Kellogg Foundation and substantial in-kind support from community partners, the Louisiana Public Health Institutes Division of Information Services will develop and implement an electronic medical record and practice management system across coordinated school-based health centers (SBHCs) in the Greater New Orleans region. The new system will play a critical role in the efforts of School Health Connection, a program of the Louisiana Public Health Institute (LPHI) that is working to rebuild area SBHCs that were destroyed by Hurricane Katrina.

The new system will be installed in at least 13 New Orleans metro-area school-based health centers. These centers provide much-needed comprehensive primary care and mental and behavioral health services to underserved students. Between the 13 sites, these SBHCs will immediately touch at least 14,000 students.

The new electronic medical record and practice management system will improve the quality of care provided in school-based health centers by reducing medical errors, ensuring continuity with other community health care providers and providing portability of records in the event that students change schools or relocate due to a natural disaster. The new system will deliver: (1) an integrated, coordinated billing system and a standard electronic medical record system for use within SBHCs; and (2) a platform for health information collection and information exchange among SBHCs and other safety-net health care providers. The system will also allow school-based health centers to move toward self-sufficiency, thanks to advanced billing systems that allow for enhancement of revenues.

In addition to the substantial funding from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, this project is supported by a group of medical and community sponsors: Methodist Health System Foundation, Inc., the City of New Orleans Health Department, LSU Health Sciences Center, the Medical Center of Louisiana at New Orleans and the Jefferson Parish School Board. The School Health Connection program, established by a significant contribution from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, will be instrumental in fostering a sustainable network of school-based health centers in the New Orleans area.

After a rigorous review process, LPHI selected eClinicalWorks as the technology vendor for the project. eClinicalWorks is one of the most well-regarded electronic medical record and practice management software vendors in the country and recently began implementation of an e-record and practice management system for the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene.

The Robert Wood Johnson and W.K. Kellogg Foundations both have long histories of supporting school-based health centers and, in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, thousands of children receive desperately needed health care through SBHCs in the region. The benefits of school-based health centers are numerous, but perhaps the most important are that they keep students mentally and physically healthy so that they are ready to learn.

LPHI is working closely with the Louisiana Office of Public Health to implement this new electronic medical record and practice management system and hopes that it will have positive statewide and national implications for SBHCs. This project, along with the School Health Connection program, represents LPHIs commitment to improving access to care, quality of care, and sustainability in health systems.

“We hope that this important, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation-funded project can form the basis of a model of electronic medical record integration, optimization and adoption in the unique SBHC environment both statewide and nationally.” said Gaurav Nagrath, Director of LPHIs Division of Information Services.