The hospital’s Electronic Health Record (EHR) now allows for members of the public to pre-register without having to create a hospital visit to see a physician, said hospital Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Taufete’e Faumuina, during the governor’s cabinet meeting yesterday at the ASCC lecture hall.

Since the launch of this program in June 2015, members of the public had to register at LBJ, but could do so only when they were there to see a physician at the hospital.  It should be noted, this is the same system that is being launched with the Department of Health.

The EHR allows the hospital to comply with Centers for Medicaid/Medicare Services (CMS) and the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (HIT) standards called Meaningful Use (MU) —and in return LBJ and DOH will be able to participate in the monetary incentive program. In addition to complying with MU goals and objectives, the new certified EHR system will also assist LBJTMC and DOH to comply with a 1 October mandate of transitioning to ICD-10, which is the 10th revision of the International Classification of Diseases (ICD).

The new EHR also brings much needed assistance to LBJ’s Coding Department with new software and features to code patient diagnosis quicker and with more accuracy, resulting in quicker turnaround times with billing.

Two months ago, Ray Tulafono, LBJ’s Chief Information Officer, who heads the hospital’s Information Technology Office, stated the hospital could not intake info and register a patient without creating a hospital visit. During the cabinet meeting, the CEO stated this was among the issues members of the public were furious about—because it was not giving them an option to register without having to see a doctor.

“That’s all changed now, anyone can resister without having to see a doctor. However, you must provide the appropriate documents to complete the registration process, which only lasts a couple of minutes, said Taufete’e.

Last month a mother with 15 children contacted Samoa News expressing disappointment. She said she took all of her (adult and minor) children’s proper documentation to the hospital, assuming she would be able to register her children, due to the long wait, but she was surprised that she was not allowed to pre-register and she found it “ridiculous” that the hospital system would only allow registration when a person is soliciting LBJ’s health care services.

The CEO continues urging members of the public to have patience and understanding as LBJ works toward improving the care, and thanks the community for their continued support and patience with their hospital services.

Samoa News notes that it’s unclear if the Department of Health clinics also offer the same option for members of the public to register without having to see a doctor.