Coalition for Health IT in Communities (“CHIC”) – GaHIN

The Coalition for Health IT in Communities (“CHIC”) project leverages the Georgia Health Information Network (“GaHIN”) and its connection with the Georgia Partnership for TeleHealth (“GPT”) to close information gaps by expanding use of robust query-based health information exchange (“HIE”) to school nurses and Individuals in two rural Georgia county school systems: Appling and Atkinson. In addition, the CHIC project examines the workflow of each school-based health clinic and reviews existing processes used by school nurses during an encounter to identify opportunities to enhance these process with patient engagement strategies. These strategies are meant to (1) educate Individuals about both the use of the available patient portal and the importance of accessing one’s health information, (2) have the Individual sign-up for the patient portal during the encounter, and (3) encourage subsequent use of the electronic tool to track/manage their child’s health and securely communicate with the school-based healthcare provider.

The project goal is to advance and improve upon patient coordination for 5300 school children in 10 schools.  Expected outcomes include: (1) School nurses will have the ability to deliver more efficient care by gaining electronic access to timely and reliable patient health data during a patient encounter; and (2) Individuals will make more informed healthcare-related decisions resulting from their use of health IT tools and electronic access to health information.

For the purpose of this project “Individuals” are defined as parents and guardians of students receiving treatment at the Appling or Atkinson school-based health clinic.