DPH gets $300K to extend use of electronic health record system

Department of Public Health Secretary Joseph Kevin Villagomez announced yesterday that the Commonwealth was awarded a $300,000 competitive grant to extend the use of the Indian Health Service’s Resource and Patient Management System, or RPMS, electronic health record system.

The grant was approved by the Health Resources and Services Administration under the U.S. Department of Health and Services.

In a statement yesterday, Villagomez said the federal agency awarded the Commonwealth $300,000 for fiscal year 2012 last Friday, with recommended annual support of $300,000 each for fiscal years 2013 and 2014.

The competitive grant will enable the use of the RPMS electronic health record system by private health care providers as well as the Tinian and Rota clinics. This will help lessen the cost and burden of individual health care providers from having to procure and implement an electronic health record on their own and enable the CNMI to more readily share electronic health record data to improve patient safety and care.

Additionally, it will help Medicare and Medicaid providers to meet “meaningful use” incentives since the RPMS system is a certified electronic health record.

Saipan Tribune learned that the competitive grant was submitted by the Commonwealth Health Center three months ago to enable the hospital to configure its RPMS to support independent health care providers and the Tinian and Rota clinics.

Health care providers will share the medical records only for common patients, in accordance with federal Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act requirements.

In a letter to health care providers, Esther Muña, the health information technology coordinator and acting deputy secretary for hospital administration, said that the purpose of network development grants is to establish and institutionalize network relationships that enable sharing of resources to improve health care delivery and efficiency.

“Specifically, in our proposal, the CNMI will share the use of the RPMS electronic health record with interested and eligible health care providers,” said Muña, adding that CHC has notified all health care partners of this development and is planning a health information technology stakeholders’ meeting later this month.

Saipan Tribune learned that the Commonwealth Health Center has been a user of the RPMS of the Indian Health Service for over 14 years now.

DPH is already using the RPMS system for its Master Patient Index and about 90 percent of residents in the CNMI who have accessed CHC’s services at least once are registered in the MPI.