COMMUNITY NOTES: New electronic records system will improve patient care, access

By Dawnett Willis, CEO, Floyd County Medical Center

There are a lot of exciting changes taking place at Floyd County Medical Center. Today, I am pleased to share our plan to implement Expanse – MEDITECH’s next generation Enterprise Health Record (EHR).

FCMC has been working on this large project since January of this year with our planned “go-live” date scheduled for Nov. 1.

The decision to move forward with this significant technology investment was necessary for FCMC to continually improve all aspects of patient care which includes quality, safety, communication, cost, timeliness, effectiveness, and patient experience.

This new EHR will bring many positive changes to our hospital and clinics.

The new electronic enterprise health record system will provide many benefits to FCMC and to you, as part of the community we serve. Floyd County Medical Center has a long-standing commitment to providing exceptional care to our patients and our move to our new EHR furthers this commitment.

Expanse enables FCMC to connect patient information through different care settings, providing clinicians a view of each patient’s complete history and ensuring safe, quality care.

MEDITECH Expanse is a fully mobile, web-based solution, enabling our providers to document electronically via tablets, laptops, and desk top computers located in clinical areas during patient visits in a manner that fits into their natural workflow, so they are not losing valuable face-to-face time with their patients.

When providers can place orders at the bedside or in the exam room, that also means patients spend less time waiting for care.

MEDITECH has been an EHR industry leader for over 50 years, driving innovation to boost organizational efficiency while enhancing physician, clinician, and patient satisfaction

Improving the patient experience is all about putting our patients at the center of their care, with technology that is safe, interactive, and easy to use. Some of the ways our new EHR will support improving patient experience are:

• Your care team will have access to your complete electronic health record wherever you go, across both our hospital and clinic settings.
• All orders are placed online and immediately shared with the appropriate department, minimizing your wait time for prescriptions, lab tests, or radiology procedures. This timely communication between members of your care team will improve treatment time and help you get back home sooner
• Expanse ensures patient safety, with one medication record, one allergy record, and one EHR across all care settings to support informed decisions. Real-time notifications alerting all care team members of potential drug and allergy interactions before proceeding with a medication order or administration.
• Clinicians can better manage their patients’ health, monitor chronic conditions, and support population health efforts, using technologies like remote monitoring and online questionnaires.
• New MyFCMCHealth patient portal, and Mhealth app provide our patients with secure, convenient access to their health information and their providers. Within the portal patients can view health records, update information, complete forms, view results, access visit summaries and instructions, pay their bills and request prescription refills.
• MHealth app makes it easy for patients to share health data with care providers, bring family members or health proxies up to date, and engage in their own wellness journey, all from their device of choice.

Initial check-in time for your first appointment at FCMC including our clinics beginning in November may take a little longer than usual as we will need to enter all your demographic information, however your historical clinical information will still be available to our Providers. Patients will be asked to provide current insurance cards, driver’s license, and an email address.

We encourage arriving a few minutes early for your visits. Once we have your current demographic information and email address in our new system, you will be able to sign up for the new patient portal.

We’re excited to have you join us on this journey as we strive to continually improve our quality and services to the communities we serve. For more information, please visit our website at fcmc.us.com.