The National Technology Transfer Center (NTTC) at Wheeling Jesuit University announces the release of the latest version of HEALTHeWV, a web-based electronic health records system built upon the Army’s award-winning HEALTHeFORCES program; it has been adapted for use in medically underserved, rural communities in West Virginia.

Dr. Mazharullah Shaik, Program Director, states “This version includes customizable disease registries, an important new feature that enables primary care practices to be effective in supporting the Patient-Centered Medical Home (PCMH). This new approach to providing comprehensive primary care facilitates partnerships between individual patients, their personal physicians, and when appropriate, the patient’s family.”

The medical practice determines what medical problems to monitor and then sets the clinical standards. The registry then improves care in three important ways: 1) it reminds the health team what services are needed at the time of the patient’s visit; 2) it reports on how well the medical practice is meeting the quality standards for all patients with the chronic condition and 3) it provides a printed summary for the patient.

Craig Robinson, Executive Director of Cabin Creek Health Systems in Kanawha County, reports that, “the new version is a great leap forward for medical practices that want to be accountable medical homes. An important part of being a medical home, which is a piece of both the federal health reform legislation and the West Virginia state reform package passed this year, is to improve quality and contain costs. And this is exactly the tool needed to help medical practices become good medical homes.”

The development and support of HEALTHeWV’s EHR is managed by the NTTC with federal grant support. The system is made available without charge to West Virginia community health centers, free clinics, county health departments, and school-based health centers. There are currently 29 health facilities using the system.

The HEALTHeWV program’s software deployment, application hosting, implementation, training, and technical support are funded by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).