“We do that for everything, for colonoscopies, Pap smears for women, colorectal cancer, for diabetic patients … those folks we bring them in regularly,” he said, adding that in the future many health centers in the North Coast will be mining their electronic health records. For now, he said, “we are one of the first.”

Ten years ago, health centers were using paper health records and could not use such extensive data-driven health strategies or conduct analysis of the population served by health center. Such analysis was usually conducted by the county public health department.

But Oryn and Toledo said recent IT investments have given the health center the tools it needs to improve the health of each of its clients and the community as a whole.

You can reach Staff Writer Martin Espinoza at 707-521-5213 or martin.espinoza@pressdemocrat.com.

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