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By Alexis Kayser
Healthcare Editor
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On a busy day, a provider with Recovery Consultants of Atlanta may see as many as 40 patients at a homeless shelter. For each encounter, there are medical histories to review, consent forms to collect and clinical notes to complete, often outside the walls of a traditional health care facility.
The Georgia nonprofit is turning to technology from eClinicalWorks to make that work more manageable.
"We're a small organization, [but] we make a big impact," Angel Jenkins, a practice manager at Recovery Consultants of Atlanta, told Newsweek during the health technology company's National Conference in Nashville on October 23.
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Founded in 1999 as a peer-led recovery support organization, Recovery Consultants of Atlanta has since expanded into primary care, behavioral health, medication-assisted treatment and infectious disease services. The organization operates as both a federally qualified health center (FQHC) and a certified community behavioral health clinic (CCBHC).
Its services extend beyond traditional clinics. Three mobile units help the organization reach patients in the community, including at homeless shelters and programs serving people transitioning out of incarceration.
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For Jenkins, who has worked at the nonprofit for more than a decade, technology has become an important part of coordinating care across those settings.
One particularly valuable tool is eClinicalWorks' Prisma, which allows providers to access medical records from outside organizations. When patients are experiencing homelessness or frequently moving between care settings, that access can help fill gaps in their medical histories, according to Jenkins.
Sometimes patients know they take several medications but cannot recall their names or dosages, Jenkins explained. Seamless access to outside records can help clinicians identify those medications and review previous procedures, helping them make more informed treatment decisions.
The Prisma system also helps the organization track referrals between its medical and behavioral health providers, reducing the risk that patients fall through the cracks.
Other features have helped streamline administrative work. Jenkins highlighted eClinicalWorks' reporting tools and electronic forms, which support documentation of quality measures and behavioral health screenings.
Recovery Consultants has also begun experimenting with AI.
After attending last year's eClinicalWorks conference, one provider began using the company's Sunoh.ai ambient documentation tool to generate clinical notes from patient encounters. The technology has been particularly helpful during community visits, when the provider may see dozens of patients in a single day.
The tool still requires clinician review, however.
"Sometimes it'll give you more [information than you need]," Jenkins said. "It provides you everything that is discussed, so [the provider] still has to go and extract what's not needed just for that note."
Regardless, the tool has "definitely been helpful," Jenkins said.
Patient-facing technology has also helped simplify mobile operations. Jenkins said that digital check-in and consent capabilities in healow—eClinicalWorks’ patient-facing digital health platform—reduce the time spent collecting signatures and demographic information during community visits.
Still, digital adoption presents challenges. Only a small portion of Recovery Consultants of Atlanta's patients regularly use healow, Jenkins estimated. Limited digital literacy in the patient population still prevents widespread utilization of the patient portal.
She sees an opportunity to expand adoption through education, helping patients become more comfortable managing their health information independently.
At its October conference, eClinicalWorks unveiled version 12.04 of its electronic health record platform alongside new AI capabilities intended to reduce administrative work and simplify clinical workflows.
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CEO Girish Navani told attendees he expects the technology to make practices 30 percent more efficient, a projection Jenkins believes could be conservative for her organization.
"I feel like he's minimizing [the impact] at that point," she said when asked whether the target seemed achievable.
Among the announcements that caught her attention were capabilities designed to simplify form completion, a task that can consume clinicians' time after regular working hours.
"I have providers who are going home trying to have dinner with their families, completing forms," Jenkins said.
She is particularly interested in whether the new technology could eventually assist with paperwork for prescription assistance programs, although that application has not been confirmed.
The redesigned interface, which eClinicalWorks says is designed to reduce clicks and pop-up windows, could also help win over clinicians who have grown frustrated with cumbersome documentation workflows.
Jenkins expects improvements in referral tracking and data exchange to produce some of the biggest benefits for her organization, although the anticipated efficiency gains have not yet been demonstrated.
As AI advances, even small, community-based organizations are feeling the pressure to keep pace, she said.
"This is the era that we're in, so not using AI kind of makes us behind the eight ball," Jenkins said, adding that some patients are hesitant to seek care from providers who seem to be using outdated technology.
"When we can show these features and enhancements that we have, it makes that visit flow better," she said. "It makes the provider seem even more knowledgeable. They may be seeing you for the first time, but to walk in the room, ask you a question and say, 'What about this?'"
For a patient, she continued, "It's like, 'Wow, you took the time to read up on me,' and so that patient feels like the provider cares even more, and you can help build that rapport."
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