Health Information Technology
In 2002, the Institute for Family Health adopted an electronic health record (EHR) system – one of the first community health centers in the country to do so. More than two decades later, the Institute is a recognized leader in the field of health information technology.
We use our EHR, advanced analytics and sophisticated data-sharing capabilities to improve community health – all while safeguarding patients’ privacy and data security. Our primary care providers, mental health clinicians, dental care providers and care navigators all use the same EHR system, making services more coordinated.
Our health information technology efforts include:
Thousands of Institute patients use MyChart / MiRecord, our patient portal website. Patients who use MyChart can complete routine tasks, like scheduling appointments, quickly, as well as receive preventive care reminders. The portal is available in both English and Spanish.
Institute providers have access to a number of tools that support them in delivering high-quality, evidence-based health care. Our EHR is equipped with best practice alerts, documentation templates, clinical checklists, data dashboards and other tools that help our staff provide top-notch care efficiently.
The Institute uses data in our EHR to monitor and improve the care we provide. We regularly review aggregated patient data on a wide variety of conditions and services. These analyses help inform our ongoing quality improvement efforts, and alert us to emerging patient needs. We examine our data with equity in mind, analyzing service delivery and patient outcomes by race, ethnicity and other characteristics to ensure all of our patients are receiving the best care.
The Institute participates in the State Health Information Network of New York (SHIN-NY) through our membership in regional health information networks (also known as “qualified entities”) in each of our regions. We also partner with these groups on innovative projects related to Race Ethnicity and Language (REaL) data exchange, as well as data-sharing related to health-related social needs.
In addition, we enable patients to share their health care data directly with their other health providers, such as hospitals, through tools such as Care Everywhere.
The Institute also strengthens the care continuum through our significant experience with demonstration projects. For example, we served as the New York partner in the Digital Bridge project to establish electronic case reporting (eCR) functionality. Digital Bridge created a scalable protocol for case reporting to public health agencies, which was then used by a number of states and localities during the COVID-19 pandemic.