A collaboration between Louisiana Tech University’s Department of Health Informatics and Information Management and The Health Hut is helping strengthen healthcare services for underserved populations in Lincoln Parish while providing students with valuable, hands-on experience in health informatics.
Through the partnership, Louisiana Tech HIIM student Emma Dugas worked closely with The Health Hut throughout the year, meeting regularly with staff and providers to examine electronic health record processes, billing and coding practices, reporting, and reimbursement trends.
Dugas also analyzed patient data and identified opportunities to improve reporting and revenue capture. Her work helped The Health Hut better understand its billing practices and identify revenue that previously had gone unclaimed.
“Emma was such a valuable part of this collaboration,” said Chelsea Streets, administrator of The Health Hut. “She met with us almost weekly, took the time to explain our EHR and helped us better understand the billing and coding side of our work. Because of the time she spent with our team, we were able to gain a better understanding of our reimbursement rates.”
Streets said Dugas also developed reports that helped The Health Hut identify trends and provided valuable knowledge to the organization’s providers and staff.
The collaboration was supported by a $7,000 grant from the Living Well Foundation. The funding supported Dugas’ work as a community health worker and health informatics specialist, as well as training and development associated with the position.
The project focused on improving population health analytics and patient engagement at The Health Hut. Areas of focus included automating quarterly reports, developing more detailed patient population data, identifying trends in patient demographics, and recognizing opportunities for patient follow-up and preventive care.
The partnership also explored ways to strengthen patient engagement through initiatives such as patient portal enrollment, referrals to specialty care, and connections to healthy living programs addressing nutrition, exercise, smoking cessation, and preventive healthcare.
“The Department of Health Informatics and Information Management is committed to creating meaningful service-learning opportunities that enable our students to apply their knowledge while making a positive impact in the community,” said Michelle Martin, director of the Department of Health Informatics and Information Management. “These experiences provide our faculty with opportunities to mentor and collaborate with students in real-world settings while fostering professional growth, experiential learning, and a shared commitment to improving community health.”
Martin said the department is grateful for its partnership with The Health Hut and for funding opportunities such as the Living Well Foundation grant that make hands-on learning experiences possible.
The Health Hut is a nonprofit, free outpatient clinic serving uninsured residents of Ruston and Lincoln Parish. Founded in 2012 as a mobile medical provider for uninsured patients, the organization expanded to a fixed location in 2015 and began serving Medicaid patients in 2017.
The organization works with community partners to provide access to healthcare while addressing barriers that can affect patients’ ability to receive and maintain care, including transportation, affordability, language, and other social determinants of health.
The partnership with Louisiana Tech builds on The Health Hut’s commitment to collaborating with local organizations to expand access to quality health care.
For Dugas, the project provided an opportunity to apply health informatics knowledge in a community health setting while gaining practical experience with EHR systems, data analysis, reporting, and reimbursement.
“Experiential learning is a hallmark of a Louisiana Tech education, and we are proud to partner with The Health Hut and Living Well Foundation to continue this strong tradition,” said Dr. Jamie Newman, dean of the College of Applied and Natural Sciences. “We are grateful to everyone involved in providing our students with opportunities to apply what they learn in the classroom while making a meaningful impact in their communities.”
The collaboration reflects Louisiana Tech’s commitment to connecting academic preparation with community needs and providing students with experiential learning opportunities that prepare them for careers in health care and health informatics.
About The Health Hut
The Health Hut is a nonprofit organization dedicated to serving the health care needs
of uninsured residents of Lincoln Parish. Through medical care, community partnerships,
and patient education, The Health Hut works to improve access to quality health care
and help patients make sustainable changes that improve their health and well-being.