Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resources (FHIR) is an HL7® standard for electronic healthcare data exchange. This next generation exchange architecture is advancing interoperability in healthcare. FHIR provides a standard way to express and share information across health centers, providers, and related organizations independent of how local EHRs display or store data. For UDS+ and other information exchange needs, all health centers, PCAs, and HCCNs will want to be familiar with the basics of the HL7 FHIR standard. In this session we will discuss what FHIR is, what it basically does, how it impacts your EHR, and what it might mean to your health center and patients.

Are you capturing information like immigration or refugee status, intimate partner violence, human trafficking, risk of acquiring HIV through sexual contact or substance use disorder, or other information that brings up questions about how to document or code while respecting the patient’s privacy?

This health center learning collaborative series will present health center case examples that explore the privacy and data sharing considerations of EHR documentation of sensitive patient information, such as social history and social risk, and encourage participants to discuss the implications for health centers and their patients. 

Are you capturing information like immigration or refugee status, intimate partner violence, human trafficking, risk of acquiring HIV through sexual contact or substance use disorder, or other information that brings up questions about how to document or code while respecting the patient’s privacy?

This health center learning collaborative series presented health center case examples that explore the privacy and data sharing considerations of EHR documentation of sensitive patient information, such as social history and social risk, and encourage participants to discuss the implications for health centers and their patients. 

Are you capturing information like immigration or refugee status, intimate partner violence, human trafficking, risk of acquiring HIV through sexual contact or substance use disorder, or other information that brings up questions about how to document or code while respecting the patient’s privacy?

This health center learning collaborative series presented health center case examples that explored the privacy and data sharing considerations of EHR documentation of sensitive patient information, such as social history and social risk, and encouraged participants to discuss the implications for health centers and their patients. 

Are you capturing information like immigration or refugee status, intimate partner violence, human trafficking, risk of acquiring HIV through sexual contact or substance use disorder, or other information that brings up questions about how to document or code while respecting the patient’s privacy?

This health center learning collaborative series presented health center case examples that explored the privacy and data sharing considerations of EHR documentation of sensitive patient information, such as social history and social risk, and encouraged participants to discuss the implications for health centers and their patients. 

Are you capturing information like immigration or refugee status, intimate partner violence, human trafficking, risk of acquiring HIV through sexual contact or substance use disorder, or other information that brings up questions about how to document or code while respecting the patient’s privacy?

This health center learning collaborative series presented health center case examples that explored the privacy and data sharing considerations of EHR documentation of sensitive patient information, such as social history and social risk, and encouraged participants to discuss the implications for health centers and their patients. 

As health centers work towards providing more patient-centered and equitable care, they are increasingly adopting standardized social needs screening tools, such as PRAPARE and others, to systematically identify the challenges patients face in managing and improving their health, such as food and housing insecurity, transportation barriers, or safety concerns.  This information can be used to make impactful care planning and programmatic changes that lead to improvements in health outcomes, resource utilization, and reimbursement.  Data dashboards help analyze social determinants of health information in visual displays that deepen insights and trigger action towards addressing patient’s social needs, improving population health, and reducing inequities in care.

This webinar provided a foundational overview of social determinants of health dashboard design and presents case studies from health centers leading the way on use of social determinants of health data dashboards to build community partnerships, improve linkages to services outside the four walls of the clinic, and demonstrate the value-based impact of social needs services in improving the health, well-being, and quality of life of communities served.  One health center shared their experience building dashboards and using them in their clinic.

New guidelines from SAMHSA released in July 2020 are designed to improve coordination of care for patients in treatment for substance disorder, while protecting confidentiality against unauthorized disclosure and use of patient information. View this HITEQ webinar on changes to SAMHSA’s 42 CFR Part 2 rule (Part 2) which protects individuals receiving substance use disorder treatment by defining privacy and security requirements for written, electronic and verbal information. This webinar features expert presenters from the University of New Hampshire Institute for Health Policy and Practice and the Center of Excellence for Protected Health Information who present on the new final Part 2 rule and future changes in the CARES Act, including what has changed, what has not changed, what this means for health centers in regard to consents and disclosures, and the implications for care coordination. This presentation also addresses privacy considerations for tele-behavioral health and exceptions during the state of emergency waiver.

This webinar focuses on strategies to reach and serve special and vulnerable populations using telehealth. Special and vulnerable populations include Migratory, Seasonal, and Agricultural Workers (MSAW), Older Adults, people experiencing homelessness, people with limited english proficiency, and rural communities with limited access to broadband. We discuss building the awareness, knowledge, and ability of both patients and health center staff to successfully use telehealth to meet the needs of these important groups. Wealso share how telehealth promotes health equity and increases overall access to quality healthcare for special and vulnerable populations.

This HITEQ Highlights webinar discussed the use of health information technologies (IT) to facilitate the workflow of providing Screening, Brief Intervention, and Referral to Treatment (SBIRT) services. Focus areas included: coding and billing for SBIRT services, using health IT to enhance SBIRT screening, communication, data capture and documentation, clinical decision support, and information sharing and reporting. The webinar presented examples and experiences of health centers currently using health IT to facilitate effective SBIRT service delivery.

Health centers are interested in using social determinants data to manage and improve the health of their patient population and community, and are at different places on the population health management (PHM) and social determinants of health (SDH) adoption curve. The Protocol for Responding to and Assessing Patients’ Assets, Risks, and Experiences (PRAPARE) is a national effort to help health centers and other providers collect the data needed to better understand and act on their patients’ social determinants of health. In this webinar, the Colorado Community Managed Care Network (CCMCN), a Health Center Controlled Network (HCCN) highlighted a Tableau data dashboard that they have developed to help their health centers make decisions on population health management. They discussed the rationale for developing the tool, challenges and facilitators to integration, and how their health centers benefit from data sharing across Tableau.

Electronic patient engagement technologies are having a significant impact on diabetes-related health outcomes and can help to increase patient to provider diabetes care plan involvement and communication. This HITEQ webinar explored use cases and strategies for effective adoption and evaluation of electronic patient engagement diabetes interventions within the health center setting.

While nearly all health centers have reported the use of electronic health records, only 38 percent are utilizing some type of telehealth technology, most notably to provide mental health services. Despite significant research that telehealth is as effective as in-person visits, there are still many barriers to its use, including the lack of consistent visit reimbursement, technology costs, broadband availability, and resistance to changes to workflow.  This webinar discussed the current state of telehealth use by health centers and the barriers to implementation and use and introduced participants to the national and regional Telehealth Resource Centers (TRCs).

This webinar discussed and demonstrated the newly developed web-accessible dashboards for the HITEQ UDS Clinical Quality Analyses which contain a variety of visual and data views of the information reported in the UDS across time and across measures, providing both individual and network organization levels of content, including comparison to other groups of health centers.  The information presented is specific to the organization that is logged in and content will vary based on the type of organization.  The webinar covered accessing the dashboards, the content available, manipulating the views, interpreting the results, and where to find additional tools and resources based on the information found. 

The role of the consumer/patient is experiencing a significant change within healthcare in which the point of diagnoses and care is being increasingly shifted from the classical care provider setting to a more patient-centered model of health services. This shift in perspective and responsibilities is largely being stimulated by a critical mass in personal health information technology innovation and development, including patient portals, health apps, web-enabled medical devices, and personal fitness and health monitors. Health Centers are very aware of the benefits of patient activation and engagement, but at times need assistance in navigating 1) related regulations associated with policies such as Meaningful Use; 2) incorporation of patient engagement tools and strategies into the organizational workflow; 3) evaluation of patient needs, satisfaction, and activation; and 4) current tools and services available for electronic patient engagement. This webinar will cover the Health IT related policies, organizational changes, personal behaviors, and technical drivers that are converging to usher in a new era of patient empowered healthcare.

The objective of this learning opportunity is to help health centers begin, and make progress along, the path of using social determinants data to address population health using HIT.  This webinar will provide participants with an understanding of population health management and the social determinants of health from a HIT perspective, and their relevance for health centers.  We will present real-world examples of health centers’ successful use of social determinants data to implement population health management and improve quality.  Participants will be introduced to a “Roadmap for Use of Social Determinants Data”, to guide them in the foundational steps of using social determinants data for HIT to drive population health. 

Health Centers are made up of many different levels of IT Security & Privacy expertise, both in terms of staff skills and organizational maturity. This resource will help guide both beginners and more advanced staff and leadership to understanding how to best manage and promote security and privacy risk management at their health center.

The outline depicted in the Approach to Health IT-enabled Quality Improvement graphic provides a step-by-step approach to analyzing and enhancing care processes targeted for outcome improvement. Section III provides guidance and tools on addressing each of these steps.

Successful health IT/QI efforts require a firm foundation of people, process, and technology elements.

Origins and Ongoing Refinement of this Guide: The content in this resource is drawn from and builds on widely used CDS/QI tools and strategies that have evolved over the past decade. The HITEQ Center plans to continue refining this Guide based on input from users like you, so please consider sharing your feedback through the comment form.