Patagonia Health understands the specific challenges of public health organizations, the dramatically changing healthcare industry and the requirements associated with the federal Electronic Health Record (EHR) Meaningful Use mandate. A Public Health EHR requires attention to details specific to local health departments that general use EHR vendors cannot address.
Local health departments (LHDs) have to meet stringent requirements around surveillance and reporting due to county, state, federal, and grant funding. They need a public health EHR solution that meets their compliance requirements and fits their workflow needs. And, given the current economic environment, local health department leaders are looking to maximize reimbursements while improving efficiencies. We assist by bringing in best practices from private practices as well as other health departments to help you take your organization to the next level. The Patagonia Health solution provides high-quality clinical reports to make patient care easier. Innovative billing software dramatically cuts down denials thereby increasing reimbursements. Additionally, the system makes it easy to access and share data with other healthcare providers in the community.
By working in conjunction with LHDs, Patagonia Health engineers have designed public health-specific apps that meet specific public health requirements of clinical, billing, administrative and managerial staff. The apps are designed to capture all of the required data in a structured format via an intelligent user interface. They allow LHDs to improve workflow, increase efficiency, achieve compliance with federal Meaningful Use standards and get instantaneous access to financial information.
We know that for most local health department staff, IT training is not a primary focus—patient care is. Patagonia Health apps make it easy-to-use and easy-to-learn for any user in a local health department, regardless of background or training level.
public health departments:
- Patient Registration App: LHDs have unique requirements because they must register each patient into a certain program. With the Patagonia Health app, each patient in each program automatically slides to a different scale for payment, depending on his or her family income. The system then generates a declaration of income for the patient to electronically sign via a signature pad.
- Clinical App: This app contains all of the necessary clinical public health forms (e.g. Child Health including Bright Futures™, Maternal Health, WISEWOMAN, Breast Cancer Cervical Cancer Screening Program [BCCCP], Family Planning, Sexually Transmitted Diseases, HIV, Adult Health, Behavioral Health, Smoking Cessation, TB Clinical Forms, Communicable Diseases/Epidemiology, Refugee Health, Immunization Services, etc.). Patagonia Health customizes clinical forms for each department. Data collected here is structured and available for reporting at the state and federal level. Our intelligent system ensures that a user only has to enter data once and then it automatically flows throughout the system.
- Billing and Financial App: Patagonia Health electronically connects to more than 5,000 payers from across the nation, including Medicaid, Medicare, BCBS, United, Managed Care Organizations (MCOS), etc. There’s no need to upload and download 835 and 837s, which simplifies the billing process. Patagonia Health’s unique billing software significantly cuts down denials and rejections. Current Patagonia Health clients experience rejections less than 0.4 percent of the time, increasing their departmental revenue. And, they are getting paid faster (on average, in 8 days). Real-time insurance eligibility makes it easy to verify a patient’s insurance and co-pay. Finally, the app includes a number of unique public health billing and reporting requirements (e.g. revenue by program, debt set-off, company/roster billing and county reports, etc.).
- State and Federal Reporting App: LHDs have a unique need to report to state and federal agencies for programs like Title X (Family Planning), and the Maternal and Child Health Title V Block Grant. Patagonia Health includes a comprehensive set of reports that makes it easy to meet this requirement. Additionally, Patagonia Health connects to state labs and systems like AHLERSTM.
- Other Features: Patagonia Health has a comprehensive set of features, including a gold-certified electronic prescription solution, support of in-house labs, HL 7 interface to external labs, in-house pharmacy management (with built in inventory management) and immunization management (including bar code scanning and inventory management).
- Cloud based: Since Patagonia Health EHR is cloud-based, you do not need to install expensive on-site servers and, thus, do not need to manage the associated IT headaches that follow server management. All you need is internet connection and computers or laptops. You can access the system from anywhere, anytime. What is more, it is secure as it meets strict ONCMeaningful Use privacy and security requirements.
- Award-Winning Customer Service and Support: Never go it alone again. With Patagonia Health’s EHR solutions you also receive top of the line service and support from a team trained and knowledgeable in everything from standard problem solving to registration and attestation for Medicare and Medicaid incentive programs and annual grant reporting. Our team of specialists can guide you through complicated processes and teach you tips and tricks for making you and your team well-organized and efficient.
The diagram below shows an overview of Patagonia Health apps. Those in light blue come standard as part of our system. We also offer apps that are customized for public health, which are shown in dark blue. You can choose which apps you need to manage your workflow and take your organization to the next level. All of our apps work together for one integrated solution.
LHDs need to connect to the state HIE, immunization registries, electronic disease syndrome surveillance systems and labs. To learn more about the interfaces that Patagonia Health supports