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SHARE and East Arkansas Family Health Centers partner to improve patient care in the Arkansas Delta

November 2019 –Little Rock, Arkansas        

The State Health Alliance for Records Exchange (SHARE) announce that East Arkansas Family Health Centers (EAFHC) are now using SHARE, one of the country’s largest and most robust health information exchanges (HIE). EAFHC care teams are now accessing clinical information across participating entities for patients who have authorized sharing their medical information. This allows them to have accurate and recent results for their patients that range from children to adults.

EAFHC provides comprehensive primary and preventive health care services appropriate for the population served at each of their health centers. They offer medical, dental, pharmaceutical, ophthalmology, laboratory, radiology, and transportation services. They also provide preventive health screenings, diabetes and cardiovascular wellness, nutrition classes, HIV/AIDS care, and behavioral health assessments. They are located in Crittenden, Poinsett, Mississippi, and Phillips counties, with a total of seven primary care medical offices, three school-based clinics and an HIV/AIDS care center. At East Arkansas Family Health Center (EAFHC), they make dental care easy and affordable for their patients and families in the Arkansas Delta and so patients  get the care they deserve. This is why they also offer on-site dental services at their West Memphis, Blytheville, Earle, Helena, Lepanto, and Trumann offices.

In Arkansas, where many large and small health systems use disparate EHR systems, this is a particularly important milestone because the single interface to SHARE will allow EAFHC providers to access laboratory results, radiology reports, progress notes, discharge summaries from outside hospitals and specialty clinics in their eClinical Works (eCW) EHR System. EAFHC care teams across four counties within Arkansas can now view the following patient data through SHARE’s eCW interface and access historical patient health information through the SHARE Virtual Health Record to include:

  • Admission, Discharge and Transfer Data
  • Allergies, Problems, Medications, Vitals, Social History
  • Demographic, Insurance, and Past Provider Information
  • Laboratory Results, Radiology Reports, Pathology Reports
  • Discharge Summaries, Continuity of Care Documents and Progress Notes

 “With access to the SHARE exchange, we’ll see the big picture with our patients. If they’ve been to the hospital or seen a specialist since our last visit, updated test results and notes will be right there in their records,” said East Arkansas Family Health Center’s Chief Executive Officer Susan Ward-Jones, M.D., a practicing physician with the group. “Patients won’t have to worry about remembering every detail for a primary care visit because their doctors will have all the information they need.”

Accessing patient information through this secure exchange allows EAFHC significant access to better coordination with hospitals, specialist and referral partners outside their network across the State to see a more robust picture of their patients’ medical histories, engendering efficient and safe continuity of care.  The SHARE 24- hour daily reports also alert the care team when patients are admitted and discharged from the emergency department and inpatient discharged in real-time. This allows for follow-up to occur within 72 hours of a patient having a hospital event, which assists EAFHC in meeting quality metrics for their National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA) PCMH certification.

In the Delta region of Arkansas this is a particularly important milestone because the single interface to SHARE enables EAFHC to access the exchange to better coordinate with providers and patients in Arkansas.  SHARE HIT Policy Integrator Justin Villines cited the partnership as the latest example of both groups’ innovation to improve patient outcomes by providing fast, secure communication among health care providers. “Care providers in our network enjoy seamless access to patients’ health data. Patients know their information is secure and available to their primary care doctors, specialists and hospitals, so they don’t have to undergo unnecessary tests or worry that something will get lost in translation from one care provider to another,” Villines said.

SHARE’s continued mission is to provide better information to support high quality patient care for the State of Arkansas health care community. This is being accomplished by increasing patient results data in the health information exchange (HIE) that is provided in real-time when doctors, providers and care teams need it.

About East Arkansas Family Health Centers

East Arkansas Family Health Center, Inc. (EAFHC) is a nonprofit, Federal Tort Claims Act (FTCA)-deemed organization serving the residents of Crittenden, Poinsett, Mississippi, and Phillips counties. Since their inception in 1974, EAFHC has been an integral part of the regional health delivery network in eastern Arkansas. They currently have seven primary care clinic sites, three school-based clinic sites in Crittenden, Poinsett, Mississippi, and Phillips counties, on the eastern edge of Arkansas, as well as an AIDS care center in Crittenden County. Their staff is committed to providing the highest quality of care and excellent customer service to their patients.

In 2017, EAFHC was recognized as a “Health Center Quality Leader” by the Health Resources and Service Administration (HRSA), and six of their seven primary care clinics are recognized by the National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA) as a patient-centered medical home (West Memphis, Earle, Blytheville, Helen, Lepanto, and Trumann). Their mission is to provide accessible, comprehensive, quality health care to communities, one patient at a time. Since 1974, EAFHC has maintained this mission and continues to provide quality health care to all types of patients. With their patient-centered medical home model, EAFHC provides a full range of primary medical care and dental services. Our providers treat patients of all ages – from newborns to geriatrics – working with them to develop comprehensive treatment plans that emphasize wellness and prevention.

In addition to medical and dental services, EAFHC offers support services that focus on helping patients maintain compliance with their treatment plans. These support services include case management, nutrition counseling, prescriptive diet and exercise programs, and extensive health education programs.