These graphs and tables use health center reported UDS data from 2014 through 2020 to identify the EHRs most frequently used among health center programs, and show the change between years.

Now more than ever, health centers know that addressing social determinants of health is key to ensuring patients from underserved and disadvantaged groups receive quality, informed, and comprehensive care. This resource explores how health centers can effectively and safely collect critical patient information, including sensitive information like social need screening, through digital patient intake solutions that rely on paper-free, data-smart registration and EHR integration. Health centers can walk through why adding these solutions to their clinics can engage rather than alienate patients, and how to implement these technologies to screen for social risk and improve the patient experience.

The resource is available in the Documents to Download section below.

The purpose of this guide is to help CHC leaders weigh the costs and benefits of remaining with their current EHR system (possibly with enhanced functionality) or switching to a different one. It is intended to be useful to all those participating in decisions about EHR systems, not just to technical experts. The guide offers a step-wise approach to asking important questions, making decisions, and moving forward. The appendices describe the types of products and services that are available to CHCs and that are mentioned throughout the guide.

Health centers are having to dramatically change approaches to patient care as the COVID-19 public health emergency keeps patients at home and ramps up the demands of telehealth and other remote care modalities. This resource is a quick start guide for health centers making this change. 

Provider satisfaction is of critical importance for health centers to promote safety and workforce stability. A 2013 survey found that dissatisfied physicians were 2-3 times more likely to leave medical practice than their more satisfied colleagues. This may be unsurprising given that another recent study found that physicians spend almost half of their day on the EHR and desk work. Even during the patient visit, 37 percent of the time in the exam room is spent on these tasks. The increase in clerical and documentation burden related to EHR adoption was cited as a contributor to provider dissatisfaction. This resource puts forth several options for assessing provider satisfaction or burden, with a focus on health IT. Results of recent research as to the challenges that providers experience are outlined, and then several possible health IT interventions are profiled.

HITEQ created this template to assist HCCNs, PCAs, or other organizations in conducting health IT assessments of multiple health centers. 

As administrative responsibilities increase, clinical documentation is often the first task to end up suffering. The EHR has created additional administrative burdens on providers such as the need to perform data entry while trying to engage with the patient during the health care visit. Providers have become frustrated and distracted with the documentation requirements, which further hinder connection and communication with the patient. The American Medical Association (AMA) and other groups note that physician burnout is a systemic problem requiring examination and improvements in the system-of-care delivery. Medical record production technologies may be the key to achieving the goal of creating better and timely medical records, while at the same time increasing cost effectiveness. Studies have shown that the utilization of services like medical scribes or voice recognition strengthened the patient and provider experience and is associated with lower rates of burnout. Furthermore, there is evidence that despite the higher overhead costs, additional documentation services can increase clinician productivity, lower billing errors, and foster work-life balance, retention, and wellness.

The obvious demand has driven innovators to provide a solution, and has manifested in scribing tools and resources with distinct modalities, with varying balances between using human capital and technology. This resource assess the strengths and weaknesses of these tools to provide guidance to health centers.

The HITEQ Center has a number of EHR transition tools that may be helpful for health centers that are considering a transition from one EHR to another. This resource brings together all these tools for easy access.

This toolkit provides a framework for Health Centers to evaluate compliance and security concerns as they purchase, adopt, and implement technology solutions.

Health centers are interested in using social determinants data to manage and improve the health of their patient population and community, and are at different places on the population health management (PHM) and social determinants of health (SDH) adoption curve. The Protocol for Responding to and Assessing Patients’ Assets, Risks, and Experiences (PRAPARE) is a national effort to help health centers and other providers collect the data needed to better understand and act on their patients’ social determinants of health. In this webinar, the Colorado Community Managed Care Network (CCMCN), a Health Center Controlled Network (HCCN) highlighted a Tableau data dashboard that they have developed to help their health centers make decisions on population health management. They discussed the rationale for developing the tool, challenges and facilitators to integration, and how their health centers benefit from data sharing across Tableau.