Amount Requested: $325,000.00

This funding will be used to purchase and implement a new software module that extends the Harris County Hospital’s electronic medical record (EMR) systems to include software that allows documentation of  phone encounters with patients. Harris County Hospital’s “Ask Your Nurse Hotline” averages more than 5,000 calls a month. The three major objectives of Ask Your Nurse include providing patients and consumers with convenient access to clinical resources 24 hours a day; providing a community service benefit by offering non-urgent care advice and information; and connecting uninsured callers to sources of primary care. In 2008, this service was able to divert more than 3,000 patients away from our communities’ emergency rooms and into the primary care system, where they received the appropriate care in the appropriate setting and at much lower cost to taxpayers. This program expands access to healthcare to the uninsured, while lowering overall healthcare expenses associated with thousands of patients in Harris County annually. This will also leverage the $40 million dollar investment in the Hospital District’s EMR system, which will enable the Hospital District to improve the continuity of care for this at risk patient population.