One year after the launch of HeWV at Wheeling Health Right, the clinic is the envy of its counterparts nationwide, according to Kathie Brown, executive director. “HEALTHeWV has put us on the cutting edge of health care for the uninsured,” Brown says. “Without it, we never could have afforded electronic medical records. It has allowed us to improve our patients’ health outcomes, and to collect the statistics needed to back up that claim. Free clinics across the country are quite envious of our EMR. ”Wheeling Health Right was the pilot site for HeWV, going live in August 2006. The clinic serves 1,000 patients per month in West Virginia’s northern panhandle. “Continuity of care has improved,” says Peggy Ferguson, a nurse practitioner at Wheeling Health Right. “We now have faster access to charts and notes from prior patient visits, which makes it easier to prepare for telephone calls with patients, to communicate with other members of the health care team, and to see and compare changes in test results.” HEALTHeWV has the support of Sen. Robert C. Byrd, who has worked for years to combat the high rates of heart disease, cancer and stroke among West Virginians. “Because our state is predominantly rural, many of our citizens who suffer from chronic disease conditions lack access to the best available health care,” Byrd says. “I fully support the HEALTHeWV program because it specifically targets improving health care for rural patients and gives rural physicians access to the same medical information as their urban counterparts.”