Tech Talk: Sam Tamburo-Jamrozik, EMR Manager

This month’s Tech Talk features Transitions’ EMR Manager, Sam Tamburo-Jamrozik. Sam oversees all of our electronic medical records and works extensively across all of our teams to make sure that our technology is aligned with our clinical and ancillary services. We sat down with Sam to gather some insights about his background, his role at Transitions, and what he sees for the future of technology in the organization. 

Tell us a little about yourself and what brought you to Transitions. 

I grew up in the Chicagoland area and received my Health Science degree from Ohio State University. My interests include cooking, baking, weightlifting, and playing video games. I worked with various database systems through summer jobs and during my time at the Wexner Medical Center on OSU’s campus. When Transitions was starting the implementation process with the new systems, Jim Palazzo contacted me to see if the team’s needs and my career plan aligned –  and thankfully they did wonderfully. 

What do you do in your role as EMR Manager? What is an EMR?

My role as Transitions EMR Manager involves profile management, system updates and additions, understanding the flow of data sources, troubleshooting, educating, and working closely with vendors and the Transitions team alike. An EMR or Electronic Medical Record system is the centralized hub where clinical, financial, and operational information come together to communicate, exchange, and store information. 

What systems do we use for our EMR?

These foundational building blocks are HomeCare HomeBase for our Hospice service line and NextGen for our Palliative services, which are marked improvements from our legacy systems WellSky and Practice Fusion. These new systems provide higher quality information and integration capabilities that are in line with Transitions’ technology and operational plans moving forward, especially with our strong intentions of growth and expansion in 2021 and 2022. 

How do these systems allow us to reach our goals and optimize our care for patients? 

These EMRs are the basis of interoperability, bringing together interfaces such as Muse, Trella, Forcura, RSL, and Acclivity to name a few. This all comes together to simplify processes and limit redundancies for our clinical team both in the field and in the office. Cleaner and more sensible data is also available for our analytic team to utilize and ultimately provide valuable insight to the operations team. I am fortunate enough to have worked closely with many of our nurses, aides, physicians, chaplains, social workers, and office staff so I know that the caliber of care we provide is second to none. All of the technology is meant to be supportive and supplemental information to add to our team’s arsenal when optimizing patient care.

How do you see these systems evolving moving forward? What are you most excited about as we move through 2021 and beyond when it comes to our EMR system?

The future of all these interoperable systems and the streamlining of clinical processes is very bright. The changes and wealth of knowledge brought to the Information Technology department by Chief Technology Officer Greg Elser will allow us to more timely and accurately address issues, improve the quality of information, and ensure the systems work as seamlessly as possible. As my duties evolve from the implementation to the management of the systems, I encourage all of our team to make note of redundancies and areas of opportunity, and make them known. Patient care is a collaboration of specialties, and our EMRs and the associated interfaces are no different. My goal is to be as much support to the team as I can be, and I look forward to the suggestions and work that will go into getting and keeping us at the most efficacious level of care.