Houston OKs switch to electronic medical records

Transferring medical records from the city health department to area physicians soon will no longer require phone calls and faxes that can delay and impede the best care for patients.

With a federal deadline looming, Houston City Council this week approved funding to implement unified electronic medical records at the Department of Public Health and Human Services.

"It's important for the portability and ease of access to the medical data, particularly in areas where you have a very mobile population," Mayor Annise Parker said of the $1.6 million contract to OCHIN Inc., a Portland, Ore.-based health information technology company.

Federal authorities as early as the 1990s began regulating electronic medical records to reduce Medicaid and Medicare fraud. In the last five years, legislation mandated for health practitioners, private and public, to switch from paper records to electronic health records that can be accessible to patients with a simple log-in, sent to another doctor with just a couple clicks and protect privacy while public health officials track trends.

City health department services include basic care for low-income families, immunizations, monitoring contagious diseases and treating some, such as tuberculosis, as well as organizing education campaigns about AIDS, diabetes and other emerging community health issues.

The city began using electronic records for dental clients about a decade ago and over time expanded the system, at times awkwardly, to include other services, said Troy Williams, assistant director of information technology for the health department.

The new system, named HealthTrak, will launch Oct. 14 with an unprecedented level of analytical tools and connectivity with other area health care providers, department spokeswoman Kathy Barton said.

It will be easier for doctors and patients to view and transfer health records, Williams said. Rather than being housed on isolated city servers, the new program is Internet-based and used by providers nationwide. Williams said physicians will not have to log into multiple databases or ask previous providers to fax information, and it will be easier for clients to maintain a complete record as they change doctors or move across the country.

Once agreements are reached, transferring a full patient history will be particularly easy with Harris Health System's dozens of hospitals and clinics, Texas Children's Hospital and other providers who already use variations of the same software, Williams said. Other hospital systems will be able to share information, he said, but it will take a little extra work to build digital bridges and outline procedures.

The switch stems from the 2009 American Recovery and Reinvestment Act and the 2010 Affordable Care Act. Physicians and public health agencies that do not transition to digital records before 2014 face a 1 percent cut to Medicaid and Medicare reimbursements, a penalty that will increase over time. The federal legislation also set requirements to protect patient data and track improvements to quality of care and affordability.

The new city system meets federal criteria for "meaningful use," standards seeking to ensure electronic health records systems are more than just digital copies of paper records. As a result, the health department qualifies for $1.6 million in federal incentive payments over five years, Williams said.