Birmingham VAMC selects DSS HB Mobile for Home Based Primary Care nurse Case Managers

The Birmingham VA Medical Center (VAMC), an acute tertiary care facility that serves the veteran population of Alabama, has selected HB Mobile from DSS, Inc. to provide an integrated mobile electronic health record (EHR) solution for its Home Based Primary Care (HBPC) nurse Case Managers. The Birmingham VAMC was selected in August 2009 by the Veterans Integrated Service Network 7 (VISN 7) to be the Alpha test site for HB Mobile. The application allows HBPC nurses to schedule case loads as well as access and input patient information at a veteran's home for improved care.

“Through the use of HB Mobile, Birmingham HBPC nurse Case Managers are able to eliminate unnecessary steps—saving on time, paper and overall cost, and reducing duplication of work”

"With an average of 35 to 55 home visits a month, preparing, organizing and reconciling home care records can be overwhelming," said Mark Byers, President and CEO of DSS. "HB Mobile was specifically developed to simplify critical data mobility, helping VAMCs to streamline healthcare workflow, eliminate unsecure paper notes and improve patient safety."

Before HB Mobile, the Birmingham Home Based Primary Care team had to print and hand-carry a patient's medical record in order to have access to vital clinical information while at a patient's home. HBPC providers would also need to dedicate time to manually schedule appointments and transcribe notes after each visit, limiting the potential productivity of the HBPC team.

"Through the use of HB Mobile, Birmingham HBPC nurse Case Managers are able to eliminate unnecessary steps—saving on time, paper and overall cost, and reducing duplication of work," said Julie Yost, DSS Product Line Manager.

HB Mobile allows patient information to be directly transferred from CPRS, VistA's CPOE module, onto a tablet PC in minutes. The system allows the provider to:

• Create schedules for the team and patient
• Access patient records while working remotely using mobile mode
• Document notes using structured templates and free-form text notes
• Record vitals on location
• Reconcile medications

Patient information automatically pre-populates encounter notes from data contained within CPRS. Furthermore, with task-specific E-forms, providers are able to capture structured data and short narrative notes quickly. Clinicians follow a consistent, program-driven series of data capture screens, ensuring that each encounter is fully documented before the clinician leaves to achieve 100 percent documentation compliance for full VERA credit.

The Department of Veterans Affairs originally identified the need for a customized HBPC application in order to ensure the security of patient health records and streamline workflow. Following approval on September 2, 2010 by the Birmingham VAMC, three other facilities in VISN 7 were selected as Beta sites, and began testing the program. These three VAMCs, Augusta, Atlanta and Tuscaloosa, have also selected HB Mobile for their HBPC programs.