ALTAMED HEALTH SERVICES CORPORATION
Grant: $746,250 - Health Resources and Services Administration - Sep. 19, 2009
0% voted satisfied - 100% voted not satisfied - 1 vote(s) cast
Join the conversation: Post a comment about this award
Award Description: AltaMed Health Services Corporation (AltaMed) received $746,250 from HRSA to support EDR Implementation and Integration with our CCHIT-certified EMR across our dental clinic sites and portable dental exam and treatment units in poorly-served urban areas of Los Angeles County and Orange County. AltaMed has long planned for this EDR Implementation and Integration project to maximize both the quality and quantity of excellent dental care access it can offer low-income and underserved residents of Los Angeles and Orange counties. Return on investment in our EMR and other related HIT innovations will be greatly increased by introducing an integrated electronic dental health record (EDR) system to expedite service delivery and ensure high quality oral health care at all of our dental clinic sites. EDR Implementation and Integration will provide the means to more efficiently serve our dental patients and ensure closer clinical linkages of our medical and dental providers. In 2008, AltaMed provided 19,880 dental service visits to patients. The quality improvement potential offered by EDR/EMR integration is the primary reason that AltaMed has pursued this HIT innovation. AltaMed?s EDR project will link its four LA County and Orange County dental clinic provider sites and its two mobile units in a total service area of more than 150 zip codes. These neighborhoods and communities share the problems of very limited medical and dental access and high concentrations of uninsured and low-income residents. In year one we propose to measure practice efficiency as well as oral health indicators for pregnant women and children recommended by HRSA?s Oral Health Disparities Collaborative initiative. In years two and three we will also collect oral health indicators for patients with diabetes and cardiovascular disease. This advanced HIT innovation will positively effect our patients? health, have a community-wide impact by raising the general level of dental service delivery in our service area, and raise the service delivery expectations of residents. As one of very few dental providers in our service area we pride ourselves on our continual focus on quality service in traditionally underserved areas plagued with extreme examples of health disparity. The communities we serve are among the poorest in Southern California and have high concentrations of non-White, foreign born residents who struggle with cultural and linguistic isolation, and who are less likely than other county residents to have dental and medical insurance. AltaMed has learned from its extensive prior HIT experiences and has a strong track record of successful ?early adopter? implementation of major technical innovations. We will have implemented our CCHIT-certified EMR across all 36 clinic sites in LA and Orange County by August 2009 in a carefully staged process. AltaMed?s success in technical innovation is due to the passion and guidance of our clinical leadership and clinician ?champions? as well as our careful, multi-year, strategic planning process.
Project Description: We are in the process of completing the implementation of all sites with the exception of the Anaheim dental facility. Renovations to the facility were recently completed and the site is now licensed. It is expected a dentist and dental staff will be employed at the site in the next few weeks. We will use a portion of an IT staff person's time to support the implementation of the EDR system, which is part of a larger implementation for electronic practice management and electronic health records. .
Jobs Summary: The major part of the funding received goes to licensing, equipment specific to the dental software, i.e., servers, terminals, x-ray and scanners. (Total jobs reported: 0)
Project Status: Less Than 50% Completed
This award's data was last updated on Sep. 19, 2009. Help expand these official descriptions using the wiki below.
No comments have been added for this project.