Have you ever given much thought to your personal health records?

If you’re like most people, then this isn’t a subject that comes up often in your day-to-day life. However, the detailed records kept by your various health care providers play a vital role in your overall well-being. These records help providers track the progress of your health and any treatments you’ve received, which keeps everyone up to date so they can provide you with the best possible care.

These records have traditionally been kept in the form of paper documents and patient charts, but this is beginning to change as computer technologies become ever more pervasive. Many health care providers are now using digital versions of patient forms, known as electronic health records, or EHRs, to do everything from document consent to treat to return lab results and store medical information.

Here at Cummins, we have recently adopted an EHR system in order to better serve our consumers. However, this new system brings a few important changes to the way our consumers can engage with their care. In this blog post, we explain how EHRs enable better person-centered care for consumers and what changes you should expect as a result of our new system!

The Ins and Outs of EHR

As we mentioned above, an electronic health record is essentially a digital or electronic version of the paper charts in your health care provider’s office. You can think of it like a virtual filing cabinet, not unlike the “files” stored on a computer. The information in an EHR can be stored and accessed using specifically-designed software applications.

HealthIT.gov explains, “EHRs are real-time, patient-centered records that make information available instantly and securely to authorized users. While an EHR does contain the medical and treatment histories of patients, an EHR system is built to go beyond standard clinical data collected in a provider’s office and can be inclusive of a broader view of a patient’s care.”

For example, an EHR may include the following information about a patient:

Medical history
Diagnoses
Prescribed medications
Current treatment plans
Immunization records
Allergies
Radiology images
Lab and test results

EHR software can automate and streamline the data information and retrieval that care providers must perform, and most importantly, allow them to easily share this information with providers at other health care organizations. HealthIT.gov continues, “EHRs are built to share information with other health care providers and organizations—such as laboratories, specialists, medical imaging facilities, pharmacies, emergency facilities, and school and workplace clinics—so they contain information from all clinicians involved in a patient’s care.”

How EHRs Benefit Health Care Consumers

The features and functionality of an EHR can improve a consumer’s care experience in several important ways.

First, EHRs can improve quality of care by helping providers adhere to evidence-based guidelines for treatment. One 2011 review of EHR systems states, “EHRs, especially those with clinical decision support tools, have been empirically linked to an increased adherence to evidence-based clinical guidelines and effective care. Despite the best intention of providers, various factors may result in patient encounters that do not adhere to best practice guidelines. Some reasons for this nonadherence include i) clinicians not knowing the guidelines, ii) clinicians not realizing that a guideline applies to a given patient, and iii) lack of time during the patient visit.”

Second, the digital nature of EHRs makes it easier for health care providers to share forms and information with each other. For example, this means that your therapist can share updates on your treatment and any new medications you may be taking with your primary care physician and any other clinicians you see. According to the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, “When doctors, pharmacies, labs, and other members of your health care team are able to share information, you may no longer have to fill out all the same forms over and over again, wait for paper records to be passed from one doctor to the other, or carry those records yourself.”

Finally, EHRs give consumers an opportunity to take increased ownership over their care. Most EHRs include a “patient portal” through which consumers may access their care records, receive test results, review their treatment plan, and communicate with their care team. These features give consumers more ways to take control of their care, which can help to ensure that it is truly centered on the individual.

“EHRs and other health IT developments tend to make many patients more active participants in their own health care,” HealthIT.gov concludes.

Getting Started with Cummins’ New EHR System

Using Cummins’ new EHR will require you to familiarize yourself with the Patient Portal. The EHR system we use is called Streamline, and you’ll need to create a patient account on Streamline in order to begin using the portal. You can follow the steps below to get started.

Logging into Your Patient Portal

To access the Patient Portal, you’ll need to use the Google Chrome web browser on your mobile phone, tablet or PC. If you don’t have Google Chrome, you can download the browser by visiting https://www.google.com/chrome/ and clicking the “Download Chrome” button.

From the Google Chrome browser, you can either:

Navigate to https://www.cumminsbhs.org/ and click the MyLink icon in the top right corner of the screen if you are on desktop, or find it in the menu sidebar if you are using a mobile device
Navigate directly to https://cbhsc.smartcarenet.com/CBHSmartcareProd/Login.aspx

Updating Your Password and Security Questions

The first time you log into the Patient Portal, you’ll need to reset your password and choose your security questions. At the login screen, enter the username and password you were given by your care provider.

If you’ve forgotten your username and password, please make sure you have your personal information and identification number available, and then call our Centralized Access Department at (888) 714-1927. At the automated menu, press 5 to speak with other departments, then press 2 for Business Records & Health Information System.

After entering your username and password, click the Login button. You will see this message:

Click the OK button, and then you will see the following form:

Enter the password you were given in the “Old Password” field, and then enter a new password of your choice in the “New Password” and “Confirm Password” fields. Then click the OK button.

This will return you to the login screen with your username and new password pre-filled in the fields:

If for some reason your username and new password are not pre-filled, simply enter them in the fields. Then click the Login button.

You will then be presented with a form that asks you to select and answer three security questions:

Click the Save button when you’re finished, and you’ll be redirected to the Patient Portal homepage, which looks like this:

Changing Your Preferences

Once inside the Patient Portal, you can change your password, security questions, and contact preferences at any time. To do so, click the “My Office” tab at the top left of the screen, select “My Work” from the left-hand menu, and then select “My Preferences.”

You will be directed to the following screen:

After making any desired changes, click the green Save button in the top right corner.

Completing Registration Documents

Finally, new Cummins consumers will need to complete several forms inside the Patient Portal before their first appointment.

Adult consumers will need to complete the following forms:

Consent for treatment
Consent for virtual services
Physical health screening
PHQ-9
GAD-7

Child consumers (ages 5–11) will need to have the following forms completed by their parent or legal guardian:

Consent for treatment
Consent for virtual services
Physical health screening
Youth – CRAFFT
Parent Vanderbilt
Youth Symptom Checklist

Adolescent consumers (ages 12–17) will need their parent or legal guardian to complete the following forms:

Consent for treatment
Consent for virtual services
Physical health screening
Youth – CRAFFT
Parent Vanderbilt

In addition, adolescent consumers will also need to complete these forms by themselves:

PHQ-A
GAD-7

All of these forms can be found on the Patient Portal homepage. Make sure you’ve selected the tab with your name at the top left of the screen, then examine the left-hand menu and click on the form you’d like to fill out.

Electronic health records, like any new technology, can take some getting used to for both providers and consumers of behavioral health care. However, they’ve been shown to significantly improve quality of care, and they empower consumers to take greater control over their own health care!

We’re very excited to be using Streamline EHR to improve the services we provide here at Cummins Behavioral Health! If you have any questions about the new system, feel free to contact our Centralized Access Department at (888) 714-1927.