For the University Health Center, paperwork is becoming a thing of the past.

The health center has gradually been implementing services made possible by its new Electronic Health Records System to maintain all previously hand-organized records.

“Appointments, medical history, patient visits, notes and the like are entered and maintained by the health center’s staff into the EHR,” wrote Deirdre Younger, assistant director for operations at the health center, in an e-mail.

The system allows for health center staff and patients to use Point and Click Solutions software for their medical needs. The software includes programs such as “OpenRegistration” and “OpenSchedule,” which provide online billing systems and appointment schedulers.

“Everything that would traditionally be written and maintained in a paper medical record is now done so electronically,” Younger said.

Though the system was officially put in place on June 18, the EHR’s current capabilities are largely limited to the use of health center staff. The system allows students who provide their e-mail addresses to receive electronic appointment reminders, but students won’t be able to use the online billing and appointment scheduling services until later this semester, health center Administrative Coordinator Susan Smith said.

Until the system is fully implemented, students must still check themselves in when they arrive for appointments.

Younger commented that the new system, while not yet in full bloom, has already met some of its goals.

“The health center implemented EHR as a part of its goal to become more efficient, improve customer service, decrease the amount of paper used and to remain aligned with the direction of health care,” she said. “The system is proving to be very efficient.”

Decreasing paper usage was also a motive in creating the EHR, Younger added. The switch will contribute to the university’s efforts to increase environmentally friendly behaviors.

“All the paper generated normally for files is not being used anymore,” Smith said.

Health center staff said using EHR should gradually lead to the boosted efficiency they envisioned when bringing the new system on board.

“The staff fully utilizes the system daily,” Younger said. “The health center appreciates the continued patience of its patients as the staff continues to become more efficient and productive with using EHR.”

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