Healthcare IT News - September 2007 - (Page 25)

www.HealthcareITNews.com PHYSICIAN PRACTICES & AMBULATORY CARE September 2007 ■ Healthcare IT News 25 tory solutions. “Hospitals are in an ideal position to bring these proven applications to the physician practice setting.” The Appalachian Regional Healthcare system serves 350,000 residents across eastern Kentucky and southern West Virginia. ARH is the largest provider of care, single largest employer in southeastern Kentucky and third largest private employer in southern West Virginia. ■ More at Texas university clinic adopts EMR By RICHaRd PIzzI, Associate Editor ABILENE, TX - The medical clinic aRH Continued from page 24 at Abilene Christian University will go digital in the near future, the school announced recently. The clinic has signed a deal to acquire a new electronic medical records system. PracticeIT, an Austin, Texasbased vendor, will provide the ACU clinic with the EMR technology, provider training, implementation and support services. The software also includes appointment scheduling, billing and prescription-ordering functionality. ACU officials placed particular emphasis on the utility of the interactive 3-D patient education module available on the PracticeIT system. ACU’s medical clinic serves more than 4,700 students. More at Services created to the Stark rules, ARH will offer the purchase of the Horizon Ambulatory Care at substantially reduced rates to affiliated physicians in its service areas and provide maintenance and technical support. McKesson’s ambulatory EHR includes an e-prescribing system, and ARH will phase in additional EHR capabilities, including the ability to place orders, document patient visits and make patient information available across care settings. ARH officials say they actively engaged affiliated community physicians in the EHR selection process. “The single biggest reason that I’m sold on electronic health records is the opportunity to improve the quality of care for our patients,” said J.D. Miller, MD, vice president of medical affairs at ARH. “Physicians both within a practice and across care settings in the community will have access to the same patient information, enabling better coordination and continuity in the care we deliver.” McKesson’s Tom Leonard says physicians prefer to partner with a local hospital for EHR technology because such systems enhance patient safety and operational efficiencies. “Appalachian Regional Healthcare has become a leader in what is quickly emerging as a national trend,” said Leonard, McKesson’s senior vice president of ambula- HealthcareITNews.com e ●Connect: arH 0907 HealthcareITNews.com e ●Connect: abIleNe 0907 CamPBell Continued from page 24 these products don’t disturb physician workflows because doctors don’t perform data-entry. Campbell Clinic adopted the SRS Freedom Chart Manager product from Montvale, N.J.-based SRS Software. “We worked really hard on the front end so we wouldn’t have any reduction in patient scheduling when we implemented,” said Paige LaMay, COO at Campbell Clinic. “There were many months spent talking with doctors about how they wanted their charts organized. In the end, we chose not to convert everything in our paper records to digital format.” LaMay explained that Campbell converts paper records to electronic records as patients in the system return for appointments. Unlike at a primary care practice, many patients do not have regular, annual appointments or visit their orthopedist throughout the year. “While we do have many clients in primary care, our bread and butter is the larger specialty practices,” said Evan Steele, CEO of SRS Software. Steele claims that Campbell Clinic’s experience is common among specialty practices. He also says that for practices of more than three physicians, the total cost of a document management system like Chart Manager is one third less than a “full-blown” EMR. “These specialty practices generally don’t want any of the downtime that’s required to work on an EMR,” he said. “As an immediate solution, document management is ideal for them.” ■ More at HealthcareITNews.com e ● Connect: allSCrIPtS 0907 e ●Connect: CaMPbell 0907 http://www.HealthcareITNews.com http://www.HealthcareITNews.com http://www.healthcareitnews.com/story.cms?id=7680 http://www.HealthcareITNews.com http://www.healthcareitnews.com/story.cms?id=7682 http://www.allscripts.com/red http://www.allscripts.com/red http://www.HealthcareITNews.com http://www.healthcareitnews.com/story.cms?id=7677 http://www.healthcareitnews.com/eConnect.cms?id=7720

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Healthcare IT News - September 2007

Contents Alaska Sweep SiCKO Debate Data Exchange Rx EDITH knows Hold That Script IT in the Sun Breathing Easy IT on the Menu Ambulatory EMRs Identity Crisis

Healthcare IT News - September 2007

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