By: Amy Simmons It has been a busy week for health centers, especially in the northern neck of the woods.   New and cutting-edge is the order of the day as two health centers blaze new trails in expanding and improving quality of care.   Open Door Family Medical Centers is putting the finishing touches on a new mobile dental van that comes fully equiped with two exam rooms and is staffed by a dentist and hygenist. Once the dentist office on wheels rolls out (the official launch is in May), it will be able to provide services to over 1,300 dental patients in the Mt. Kisco community. 

“Open Door has significant experience and success in outfitting, maintaining, and growing dental practices,” said Anita Wilenkin, Chief Operating Officer of Open Door. “We attract and retain skilled dentists, dental hygienists and support staff delivering quality, community-oriented oral health services in a culturally-competent manner.”  

And in Rhode Island, health centers are leading the way in the implementation of Health Information Technology (HIT) systems.   Earlier today, the National Coordinator for HIT in the Department of Health and Human Services, Dr. David Blumenthal, joined U.S. Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse in touring Tri-Town Community Action Agency in Johnston, RI.  Tri-Town, one of 126 new health center access points funded through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA), is part of eCHC, a health center controlled EHR network.    The point of the tour was to see HIT in action and glimpse the future.  Today’s demo showed a system function that will aloow the direct exchange of clinical information between two health care providers, even when each entity has a different EHR system.  Pretty cool stuff.  You can read more in the press release provided by the Rhode Island Health Center Association.