It took a trip to the annual Health Information and Management Systems Society in Las Vegas for Georgia State Universityfaculty members to end their search for the ideal electronic health record. While at the massive industry conference, they met Azalea Health, which is headquartered in Atlanta and serves customers nationwide.

Tamara S. Melton, MS, RDN, LD, Program Director and Clinical Instructor for Health Informatics, and Aaron M. Baird, BS, MBA, Ph.D., an assistant professor in Health Administration, had been rebuffed by numerous vendors who weren’t interested in partnering with an academic institution. However, they were greeted warmly by Azalea Health, which expressed interest in supporting the university in its mission to provide hands-on training in healthcare technology.

Fast forward several months and the Azalea Health EHR is now in use by Georgia State health informatics students, with more classes scheduled to begin use of the software prior to the end of the year. It will be used in simulations and classrooms for programs including health informatics, respiratory therapy, physical therapy, nutrition and the graduate nursing informatics program.

“Our students are at a disadvantage if they go out into the marketplace without hands-on experience working with actual software,” explains Baird. “Whether they go to work for a provider or vendor, they need to understand how to set up the software for a client, or assist a provider with customizing and configuring the software.”

Baird said that he appreciates the fact that Azalea uses true cloud-based technology, eliminating the need to manage hardware and software. “Because Azalea is cloud based, we don’t need a whole support team, we just log in and get started. And Azalea’s trainers have been very supportive.”

Melton echoes the praise for Azalea’s support team as well as the realism the EHR software brings to the classroom. “We’ve been very pleased with the user interface and functionality. We had used an academic EHR in the past, but it didn’t mimic a real EHR in a real clinical setting — it just didn’t have the functionality.”

Melton continued, “From an academic perspective, Azalea is allowing us to teach students how to do this in the real world, so when they graduate and get their first job, they’re not looking at the equipment and thinking, ‘oh my gosh, this is so much more complicated than what we did in simulations.’ There is so much value in them seeing and using a real EHR system.”

“We’re delighted to partner with Georgia State and to support the next generation of health professionals,” said Justin Pierce, Vice President of Sales at Azalea. “The healthcare industry increasingly relies on technology to support and optimize clinical decisions while also achieving strong financial performance. Our leading-edge solutions will enhance the educational experience and prepare students for the challenges and opportunities they will face in the future.”

Melton says the university was also excited to learn that their EHR integrates telehealth capabilities. Azalea Health is the first company to fully integrate telehealth capabilities within its technology-enabled solutions platform. That platform also includes the EHR, practice management, electronic prescribing, interoperability services, personal health records, patient portal, Azalea M™ mobile platform integrated with Apple^® HealthKit and Revenue Cycle Performance services.