(May 2015, Rowan County, NC)   After more than a year of research, Rowan County Health Department selected a new Electronic Health Records (EHR), Practice Management (PM) and billing system to replace their existing legacy, Georgia-based EHR vendor.  In July 2015, they expect to go live with Patagonia Health EHR, a Cary, NC-based public health focused EHR vendor.

Rowan County Health Department (RCHD) went through a very thorough selection process. “We started by organizing an EHR selection committee, that represented key personnel from each department” says Ashley Grier, Office Manager, RCHD. The committee conducted in-depth research, sent out a nationwide RFP and, most importantly, interviewed other local health departments using EHRs. They then created a short list of vendors. Each vendor was invited to come in and demonstrate their system to all EHR users including administration, prenatal, clerical, clinical, and pharmacy staff. Users ranked Patagonia Health number one due to its deep functionality for public health, its ease of use and, most importantly, on-going service.

“Everyone here at Rowan County Health Department is as excited as I am that we are moving forward with Patagonia Health apps-based EHR. With our existing system, clinical charting was cumbersome and it is so much better in Patagonia Health.” says, Nina Oliver, Rowan County Health Director. “We really needed a system that would be easy and that would automate some of the work, such as reporting” says Charles Drake, Finance Officer, RCHD. “With our current system, we just could not bring up simple data, such as client count. We had spent weeks trying to develop a dashboard for reporting data. The Patagonia Health EHR has a built in graphical dashboard and reporting system, with all of our required state forms and up-loadable reports. I am excited, no doubt at all, to finally have the Patagonia Health system” added Drake.

With limited IT resources in-house, RCHD will be relieved to have full support from a very reachable vendor. “We really feel like we already have good communications with Patagonia Health. Public health has so many unique needs and they really understand that. We see them at conferences all the time, and they have continued user focus training groups, so if we have any questions or concerns we are confident they will be addressed quickly” says Drake.

Patagonia Health EHR system is purpose-built for public health departments’ specific needs, incorporates all the necessary programs and forms, and is ready to exchange data with other providers.  The modern fully-certified EHR system provides huge time savings, leaving staff to conduct the more important hands-on care.  “We asked many other counties who use Patagonia Health what their experience has been in getting forms or other things they needed, and they all had positive comments about the support” says Drake. He adds, “This new system will help us get state reporting done quickly and easily, and most importantly, submitted on time.”

About the Rowan County Health Department

Rowan County Health Department (RCHD), located slightly west of central North Carolina, serves a population of over 138,000. They operate eight specialized clinics, including Child Health, Adult Health, Family Planning, Prenatal, Immunization, HIV/STD, Pharmacy and Dental. Each of these clinics are all part of their mission “to provide and to encourage the provision of quality public health programs that protect and promote health, prevent and control disease, reduce and rehabilitate disability, as well as establish and maintain healthful lifestyles in a safe environment. This will be accomplished by assessing local health needs, developing public health policies, and assuring delivery of needed community services”.

Nina M. Oliver, Health Director
Rowan County Public Health Department
1811 East Innes Street
Salisbury, NC 28146
Phone: 704-216-8777

About Patagonia Health

Patagonia Health Inc. is a healthcare software supplier that has built a cloud and apps-based software solution. The solution includes an integrated, federally-certified, Electronic Health Record (EHR), Practice Management (PM) and Billing software. The company’s mission is to solve two major barriers to EHR adoption, usability and cost, and address customers’ number one problem: billing. Patagonia Health’s one-of-a-kind apps-based system represents a paradigm shift in the EHR software industry, and its highly-intelligent solution uses sophisticated technology that is extremely easy-to-use. Innovative and unique apps provide timely data for organizations to improve workflow, streamline their operations and take their organizations to the next level. For more information, visit www.patagoniahealth.com or email info@patagoniahealth.com.