Health Gorilla Partners with Asociacion de Salud Primaria de Puerto Rico, RCHN Foundation to Analyze Standardized Patient Data Needs in Puerto Rico

PALO ALTO, Calif., Aug. 10, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Health Gorilla, a leader in national clinical interoperability, in conjunction with the Asociación de Salud Primaria de Puerto Rico, Inc. (ASPPR), and its affiliate, Puerto Rico Primary Care Association Network (PR PCAN) and the RCHN Community Health Foundation, have concluded the "D2" data quality and analytics project.

The primary objective of the project was to support the development and reinforcement of a robust data culture in Puerto Rico's community health centers, including the adoption of data dashboards. Working with a pilot group of health centers to test the process, patient data in the form of Continuity of Care Documents (CCDs) was extracted from each health center's Electronic Health Records (EHR) and ingested into the Health Gorilla data warehouse platform for analysis and dashboards development.

The final project report analyzes and highlights key aspects of data capture, quality, and completeness. It highlights variations among the centers in their approaches to handling data, differences in incidence of common clinical conditions across the centers, as well as inconsistencies in the EHRs both within and across the health centers that could make it challenging for the providers to document patients' conditions. Underscored are the needs for robust data preparation, governance, and analysis.

The D2 project highlights the importance of uniform, standardized patient data for clinical and operational decision-making.  It also showcases the value of regular review of data on patients' social determinants of health (SDOH) that are essential for developing appropriate interventions to address healthcare disparities. Social determinants are particularly relevant in Puerto Rico, where 34% of adults report fair or poor general health compared to 18% in the 50 states and D.C., and 46% of the population was below the Federal Poverty Level in 2016 compared to 15% in the 50 states and D.C.

"The D2 report validates the mission of Health Gorilla to empower patients and providers with complete access to health data, said Steve Yaskin, chief executive officer and co-founder of Health Gorilla. "We are diligently working to build a national network that can aggregate all health data on any patient, ranging from medical records and labs to financial and social determinants of health. This is particularly beneficial in underserved communities such as Puerto Rico."

"We appreciate the extensive effort and research put into the D2 report, said Hector I. Garcia, MPH, Director of the Puerto Rico Primary Care Association Network. "The RCHN Community Health Foundation and Health Gorilla are key pillars in understanding the unique patient data challenges for the Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHCs) in Puerto Rico.  Through their efforts, we are able to better identify opportunities for improvement and take actionable steps towards achieving improved outcomes for many Puerto Ricans."

"Data is every health center's key strategic asset, said RCHN Community Health Foundation President and CEO Feygele Jacobs, DrPH.  "Through this D2 initiative and other projects, the ASPPR, PRPCAN, and the participating centers, in conjunction with technology partner Health Gorilla, have set the stage for the important strategic and transformation work that lies ahead." 

The final report is found here.

About Health Gorilla

Founded in 2014, Health Gorilla is a secure interoperability solution that enables the entire health care ecosystem – patients, payers, providers, digital health solutions, and labs – to seamlessly share health data and aggregate each patient's entire clinical history in one place. With enterprise-grade clinical data APIs, HIPAA-compliant user authentication, and an unparalleled master patient index, the Health Gorilla network makes it easy for providers to pull their patient's information from any clinical records system while ensuring adherence to the 21st Century Cures Act and to the Trusted Exchange Framework and Common Agreement (TEFCA) standards that will go into effect in early 2022. Headquartered in Silicon Valley, Health Gorilla works with health care organizations around the world, helping them gather the clinical data they need to deliver the best and most appropriate care for their patients. For more information, visit healthgorilla.com or follow us on Twitter @HealthGorilla. 

About Puerto Rico Primary Care Association Network (PRPCAN)

With a strategic work plan covered since 2016 to date, the PR PCAN works with health centers to achieve the significant use of the electronic medical records (EHR) certified by the ONC as well as health information technology as a whole. In addition, enabled by technology as a tool, the centers facilitate the adoption of strategies to improve the quality of care. Finally, it is instrumental in the exchange of health information (HIE) to strengthen the quality of care and improve the health outcomes of patients throughout Puerto Rico via statistical and data analytics approach.

About the RCHN Community Health Foundation

The RCHN Community Health Foundation is the only foundation in the U.S. dedicated solely to community health centers. RCHN CHF magnifies the work of community health centers, developing and facilitating the sharing of important resources, tools, and information, and helping to broaden, in scope and intensity, the essential work of health center providers. Founded in 2005, RCHN CHF will sunset in 2021.

SOURCE Health Gorilla

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