More than an EHR: Why Persimmony Is Purpose-Built for Public Health Operations

When people first see Persimmony’s client profiles, assessments, and reporting tools, they often ask:

“Whates the difference between this and an EHR?”

It’s a reasonable question. But the answer is simple: Persimmony does more than electronic health record system.

We’re a public health operations platform—designed for the real work of public health and human services, not for charting medical encounters (although we also do that).

Where EHRs focus on documenting clinical care, Persimmony is focused on service delivery, funding, and accountability. We don’t replace your EHR. We complement it—and in many cases, fill in the gaps it was never built to handle.

Here’s how we’re different:

1. Built for Public Health, Not Just Patients

EHRs are built for hospitals and clinics. They’re great at managing diagnoses, prescriptions, vitals, and billing. But in public health, your work isn’t always clinical—and your clients aren’t always patients.

Home visits, outreach, screenings, referrals, care coordination—these aren’t medical encounters. They’re program services.

Persimmony captures the full scope of your work: assessments, contact logs, case notes, charting, time studies, referrals, and more. It helps you track what matters in public health—even when it isn’t billable.

2. Made for Programs, Not Providers

Most EHRs are designed around a single medical provider. Persimmony is designed around programs, teams, and funders. We have over 150 different programs using Persimmony and counting.

We make it easy to track:

• Which programs served each client
• How services align with fundable activities (like MAC, TCM, FFP)
• What documentation supports compliance and audit-readiness

Whether you’re reporting to the state, submitting to First 5, or reconciling quarterly draws, we turn documentation into data you can use.

3. Compliance, Funding, and Time Study—Built In

EHRs are built for clinical billing. Persimmony is built for claiming, compliance, and program reporting. That includes:

• Medicaid time study tracking
• Funding source alignment
• Custom dashboards for audit support and performance monitoring

If you're managing multiple funding streams and accountability requirements, Persimmony keeps everything tied together—without the mess of spreadsheets or bolt-on reporting tools.

4. Tailored for Real Public Health Workflows

EHRs often come packed with features that only matter to physicians and billing clerks. But what about your team?

We focus on the tools Public Health professionals actually use:

• Flexible forms with digital signatures
• Referral workflows and inter-program coordination
• Client service planning tied to funding codes
• Role-based access across teams and departments

You don’t need to hack a medical system to fit your work. Persimmony is built from the ground up to match your programs—not the other way around.

5. Built to Integrate—Not Replace

We don’t expect to be your only system. And we don’t need to be.

Although you can run medical programs such as TB directly in Persimmony, Persimmony can also be used alongside an EHR, not instead of one. We can integrate with your existing systems to fill the operational, outreach, and funding gaps they leave behind.

We're the operational layer that tracks what happens outside the clinic, across your community, and between your programs.

The Bottom Line

If you need a tool to chart medical diagnoses, track vitals, and handle clinical billing—we can do that or your EHR can.

But if you need a system that supports field-based work, captures the true impact of your programs, and turns public health services into accountable, fundable data—you need something built for that.

That’s Persimmony.

Not an EHR. A better fit.

Want to see the difference for yourself?

‍Contact our team today to learn how Persimmony helps you deliver, document, and defend the value of your work.