-
Information TechnologyCloseLouisiana has an electronic network—developed under SPNS funding—that alerts clinical staff of the LSU hospital system on PLWH who have not received care for 12 or more months and are considered "out of care." Read about them in CAREAction. Also See Ryan White Community
Improving QualityCloseThe Seattle consumer awareness campaign How’s Your Cervix? seeks to increase annual Pap smear screening of HIV+ women, and prevent cervical cancer. Learn more about this Ryan White-funded Part A quality campaign. Also, see HRSA/HAB’s cervical cancer performance measure.
Provider TrainingCloseThe Pacific AETC and its Hawaii Local Performance Site conduct HIV provider training for the US Pacific Jurisdictions. Since June 2000, they have assessed and increased HIV clinical treatment capacity in the Pacific islands. The AETC Network News describes their success in training of trainers as “people who can sustain clinical capacity, and forge a public health leadership cadre for the future."
FEATURE ARTICLE
CAREWare is 10 Years Old
CAREWare, the HIV/AIDS Bureau’s free Ryan White data reporting software and HIV health information system, is now one decade old. CAREWare was originally released at the Grantee Meeting in 2000. Usage has increased each year and today over 800 Ryan White-funded agencies use it to manage their HIV/AIDS information.
An Evolving Software
CAREWare has evolved over the years, from a simple, stand-alone application to a fully networkable, electronic health information system. CAREWare is updated continuously to meet new needs—from generating the Ryan White Data Report (RDR) to the new client-level Ryan White Services Report (RSR) to HAB’s Performance Measures. Notably, for the first-ever RSR submissions, uploaded in 2009, half of all providers and grantees generated their exports using CAREWare. These submissions contained over 220,000 client records. (Eighty-nine percent of the 1,536 providers required to upload RSR client level data had done so by the September 15, 2009 deadline)
The Latest in CAREWare
The CAREWare Web page presents the latest version, user guides, and other materials. The latest version is CAREWare build 442 and should be used for 2009 year-end RDRs (due March 22nd) and RSR exports (due April 12th). RDR and RSR can be submitted any time prior to the deadlines.
Features under development as of early 2010 include the ability to store documents such as a HIPAA privacy notice or any other form and make them available through custom fields; and an automatic e-mail generator to inform specific users of clients who have not met certain performance measures and thus require special follow up and attention. Notably, these developments were paid for and initiated by individual grantees but are incorporated into updates of CAREWare that are available to all users.
CAREWare Help Desk
877-294-3571
Mon - Fri
1pm - 4:00pm ET
Email cwhelp@jprog.com
http://hab.hrsa.gov/careware
CAREWare in the Field
Networking CAREWare. A number of states and cities run CAREWare with multiple providers connecting into one central database. These network setups have contributed greatly to their ability to track service usage and monitor the quality of care across multiple agencies.
Tailoring the Software. A number of grantees have contracted to have their own specific features developed. These include: a widely used provider data import which allows clinics to import data into CAREWare from other applications and electronic medical records (EMRs), thus avoiding double data entry; and a lab import feature which allows agencies to receive test results electronically from the major laboratory service companies Labcorp and Quest.
Going International. The software has also been modified for use in international HIV treatment settings, and has been implemented in clinics in Nigeria, Uganda, and Viet Nam.