As HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Acct) was rolled out in the U.S., healthcare organizations were basically mandated to implement complete EMR (Electronic Medical Records) solutions. Fortunately, as a substance abuse treatment and research organization, we were already half way there. All new patient records were already being created and maintained electronically on a clinical system. However, we still needed to find a solution to convert all patient charts still remaining in paper forms into electronic documents. Over the years, we had called in various vendors and performed multiple discovery processes to help us find the right solution – one that must be flexible, scalable, and secure.

We were fortunate to be awarded the funding to obtain licenses for a software system called OnBase, along with the hardware and professional services to customize and to connect it to our existing clinical EMR system. Other needed components which we also got include integration with existing scanning capability in our fleet or copiers and a robust storage system to keep and maintain the scanned documents. Ultimately the new system, in conjunction with our clinical EMR system, completed our ability to maintain electronic medical records for the entire spectrum of clinical services delivered by the APT Foundation: outpatient, residential, and primary care.

Above is an example screenshot of looking up a client record using the system’s desktop client. By hovering the mouse pointer over a patient ID, an user can bring up a count and a list of all related documents for this client – only those the user is authorized to see. In compliance with HIPAA regulations , each record view is logged.

Above is an example screenshot of looking up records using the system’s web-based client. By selecting "Today" for a date, an authorized user can quickly see a list of new records having been created today.

As a side benefit of owning a highly capable and highly integrate-able electronic content management with workflow capability, we now have the capacity to plan for improving operations in other back-office functions (such as eligibility and authorization) well as other client-care related functions (such as transportation). We are working on obtaining the right software module licenses to move forward with such plans.

We are grateful that the State of Connecticut has been supportive of our efforts