Health Information Technology

Migrant Health Service, Inc. uses a number of health information technology (HIT) components to facilitate the delivery of care. MHSI is proud to be one of the very first migrant-only programs in the nation to adopt electronic medical records (EMRs)!

MHSI collaborated with two other organizations - Sawtooth Mountain Clinic and Cook Area Health Services - as charter members of the Northern Minnesota Network (NMN). Together, after several years of planning and discussion, NMN took advantage of economies of scale to purchase a joint practice management and EMR system.

The implementation took place in phases:

• Fall 2006: Practice management went live at the three year-round sites. Duties such as patient registration, scheduling, and billing transitioned to the new software.
• June 2008: Go-live for EMRs at the Moorhead, Grafton, and Southern Mobile Unit locations. All charting for patient visits was conducted electronically for the first time.
• November 2008: EMR go-live in Rochester
• June 2009: Go-live for both EMR and practice management for the remaining six sites.

Especially with multiple sites spread over such a wide geographic area, electronic charts facilitate continuity of care for MHSI patients that may travel between clinics. Thus far, the response from patients and staff has been positive!

MHSI and NMN continue to pursue other HIT software and opportunities as they become available. A lab interface with Quest Diagnostics is slated for launch in Fall 2009. The interface will populate lab results directly in the flowsheet in the patient's chart, thereby eliminating hand entry of results. MHSI is also seeking to expand its data reporting capabilities with a number of different software tools.