: The purpose of the proposed implementation project is to implement a HIPAA compliant approach (HIT Electronic Records System and a Central Access Point of Entry for community members) to the selection of a common set of patient health data that can be transferred electronically between community healthcare providers, thereby resulting in an array of positive operational and secondary outcomes to community health networks. The proposed implementation project has several distinct outcomes related to the intent to implement the proposed project: to improve patient safety; treat multiple problems in a coordinated manner; build relationships between providers; encourage and track referrals between separately owned entities; get better and more frequent feedback on referrals; improve ability to treat pandemic outbreaks and bioterrorism; increase availability of multiple providers utilizing a coordinated approach for public ease of access; develop common medical terminology between providers; lower operational costs through coordinated efforts; improve legibility; improve agency and individual provider productivity levels; encourage physicians and other providers to communicate more frequently; increase ability to analyze patient service use patterns between providers; increase ability to track disease and risk behaviors across the community on a real time basis; and increase the setting of common health goals and activities of providers. Current project sponsors and partners include: Tahlequah City Hospital, Cherokee Nation Health Services, Cherokee County Health Department, Bill Willis Community Mental Health and Substance Abuse Center, Hastings Indian Hospital, Northeast Oklahoma Community Health Center, and the Northeast State University. The primary goals that will result in the aforementioned potential outcomes are: 1) Implementation of an Electronic Health Information System among seven agencies; ? 2) Implementation of a Web based 24/7 Information and Referral Service that includes back-up 24/7 telephone service; and 3) Implementation of a Community wide science-based prevention strategy that is supported by community-based HIT data systems. ? ? ?
