COMPUTER IMPROVEMENTS

Twenty years ago, when HSS was a much smaller organization, about $1.5 million, in a less demanding regulatory environment we had about 8.5 support staff in areas like accounting, reception, billing and secretarial support.  Today we are a roughly $5 million organization in a much more demanding regulatory environment but we still have only 8.5 support staff.  This has been possible because we have used computerized systems as much as possible to extend the productivity of our support staff. 

Recognizing the importance of using computer systems to improve productivity, we have continued to add enhancements to our computer systems as new needs arrive and as new technology becomes available.  One improvement we added this year is desktop network scanning capabilities.  Desktop scanning has allowed us to take clinical and administrative files that were on paper and scan them into digital records.  This not only eliminates the need to store paper records, but it makes the information stored more available to staff throughout our agency.  We also have added E-prescribing for our psychiatrist.  E-prescribing is an enhancement that allows our psychiatrist to complete an electric prescription and automatically send it to the client’s pharmacy.  This eliminates the need for paper prescriptions.  It also allows for automatic checking of prescription against the client’s health insurance drug formulary and E-prescribing automatically checks for drug incompatibilities.