Electronic Health Record Implementation: A Quality Assurance Assessment from a Free Clinic Perspective

Introduction: The Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act (HITECH Act) in 2009, clinics across the United States have new incentive to ensure that the use of the electronic health record (EHR) works to improve patient access to care and health outcomes. Methods: As a quality improvement project for implementing a new EHR, four diagnoses were focused on from 1/1/2017 to 7/1/2017 to improve documentation compliance and follow-up diagnostic tests: diabetes (DM), hypertension (HTN), congestive heart failure (CHF) and chronic kidney disease (CKD). Results: A total of n=502 patient charts were reviewed. The compliance percentage in capturing/documenting the metrics were 100% for age, gender; 49% race/ethnicity; 16% education and employer information; 25% primary care providers; 59% weight and 70%-93% key outcomes based on each diagnosis on the first visit documented in the EHR. Conclusions: The EHR provided a consistent platform to establish quality metrics in a free clinic not previously acquired. By establishing these benchmarks, a free clinic can adapt and modify meaningful use expectations even though they are not required.