HealthWest, a community mental health organization serving Muskegon County in west Michigan, recently opted its 4th electronic health record (EHR) system, a shift predicated on better supporting sufferers and the staff during the era of value-based and accountable care.
The agency used its earlier EHR for more than 5 years, but the state of Michigan has changed its behavioral health procedures, and HealthWest required extra functionality that involves better connectivity with medical providers to support accountable care, claims David McElfish, chief information officer.
“The aim is to have an integrated medical and behavioral health record and exchange data with primary care physicians throughout the county,” he further adds. “The result in the end is offering better care to our clients.”
HealthWest engaged in a 6-month vendor selection procedure and recently settled on the Cx360 EHR from Core Solutions. Clinicians and staff liked an interface on the latest records system that gives data views on all clients or just one client, provides more relevant data on lookup screens, is more intuitive and has more convenient workflow, in accordance to McElfish.
Other vendor candidates didn’t give a managed care module that involved electronic billing and claims management, and would not permit HealthWest’s in-house information technology team to establish add-on screens for reporting purposes.
HealthWest also needed a sufferer portal, seamless eligibility verification checks and appointment schedules viewable on mobile devices, since most staff members work in the community. Moreover, HealthWest has been working to automate more procedures so that data moves in real time, another initiative that Cx360 could support.
When it came down to a final pick among 2 products with comparable price tags, it was the extra offerings and greater flexibility that Core Solutions offered that sealed the deal.
“As HealthWest progressed, there was no way to continue to have manual procedures,” McElfish concludes. “We required functionality to get local provider claims electronically instead of on paper.”
An implementation kick-off meeting is planned for the day of February 22. HealthWest previously was looking to go live in the month of October, but uncertainties that the timetable may be too aggressive makes a January 2018 go-live look more likely, McElfish claims.
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