NIHD Readies for New Electronic Health Record

NIHD Readies for New Electronic Health Record

Northern Inyo Healthcare District has teamed up with Cerner, a global leader in health care technology, to transform its Electronic Health Record (EHR). NIHD will move to an updated electronic system that supports physicians, nurses, and clinicians to share data across the District’s multiple offices.

Patients can expect a new patient portal this May. The new portal will enhance the overall patient experience by including mobile and dedicated Spanish language access. The new portal will offer safe provider messaging, access to lab results and telehealth visits, improved health history viewing, and better access to bill pay and prescription options.

NIHD contracted with accounting and business consulting firm Wipfli to oversee the implementation alongside District leaders. Project Management Professional Daryl Duenkel, based in Wisconsin, works closely with NIHD’s Project Manager Lynda Vance. Together, they have weathered a world now based in video conferencing, to keep the project on time and moving forward. Project Sponsor is NIHD’s Chief Medical Officer William Timbers, MD. 

The NIHD team has been diligently working with Cerner toward the implementation for the past year. The NIHD and Cerner teams are currently putting the new system through one of its three rounds of testing in three day-long sessions. Hundreds of NIHD staff members are involved in preparing the data necessary for the system’s launch.

“This partnership will provide our care teams access to sophisticated information technology and systems designed to improve the quality and safety of patient care,” said Interim Chief Executive Officer Kelli Davis. “It will also improve documenting and communicating clinical information throughout NIHD, meeting many of the District’s efficiency goals.”

Davis said NIHD chose Cerner after a brief but intensive search for a new Electronic Health Record system. “While this is not our first patient portal, we hope it will be a lasting one,” Davis said. “Cerner’s extensive experience in the rural health environment was attractive to us. We hope that Cerner will standardize care delivery at NIHD, so we do not have to rely on a wide array of smaller, less connected resources. As demand for care rises in the wake of the pandemic, there is no better time to upgrade technology system-wide.”

NIHD will keep patients apprised of the steps they will need to make an easy transition to Cerner.

Cerner’s CommunityWorks system is a cloud-based delivery model of the Cerner Millennium electronic health record. The system includes a billing platform that integrates clinical and financial information into one patient record. Cerner prides itself on tailoring its system to community needs and that of Critical Access Hospitals and outpatient clinics.

About Northern Inyo Healthcare District: Founded in 1946, Northern Inyo Healthcare District features a 25-bed critical access hospital, a 24-hour emergency department, a primary care rural health clinic, a diagnostic imaging center, and clinics specializing in women’s health, orthopedics, internal medicine, pediatrics and allergies, general surgery, colorectal surgery, breast cancer surgery and urology. Continually striving to improve the health outcomes of those who rely on its services, Northern Inyo Healthcare District aims to improve our communities one life at a time. One team, one goal, your health.