Many independent physicians are partnering with their local hospitals to be able to tap into the hospital's EHR system with minimal cost. What obligations the independent physician offices must fulfill depends upon the agreements made or partnerships formed. Many physician offices aren't ready to enter into such partnerships that perhaps may include exclusive physician referral rights.
Enter the Sisters of Charity Health System based in Cleveland. The Sisters of Charity launched the Independent Physician Solutions, a for-profit subsidiary that offers EMR adoption and other consulting services. The driver for the creation of IPS is to tap into the physician offices that want to truly stay independent while trying to implement and adopt EMRs.
The Sisters of Charity comprise two hospitals in Ohio - Cleveland and Canton - and two hospitals in South Carolina, which will also be offered IPS' services.
IPS has partnered with GE Healthcare to offer General Electric's Centricity Practice Solution electronic medical records and practice management program to independent physicians. So independent physicians have to be on board with this selection. It’s interesting that the subsidiary chose to go with one EMR and PM solution instead of two or three. It makes sense if the Sisters of Charity are GE shops, but as a for-profit subsidiary it limits IPS' options to the independent market.
The other interesting thing is that the Canton hospital, Mercy Medical Center, will be competing with the other hospital in the market, Aultman Hospital, which has been providing revenue cycle management, practice management, consulting and IT to some 340 physicians in five surrounding counties through its subsidiary Aultman Management Services Organization since 1996. Allscripts is its preferred EMR.
To date, Aultman has helped 14 practices with a total of 50 providers adopt EMRs, with another 18 practices comprising 53 providers ready to adopt the program, according to Aultman's senior vice president of physician services.
Why is Sisters of Charity launching IPS now, when Aultman has been around the block for some 14 years? It's called federal stimulus funds.
Northeast Ohio (NEO) HealthForce, one of the anointed regional extension centers in Ohio, was awarded $1,453,500 to assist 323 primary care physicians. Will local Canton and Cleveland indie docs go to IPS or HealthForce? The difference is getting the whole clinical and administrative or business systems in place.
Is it a smart business move? Aultman is proving it is. As a for-profit venture, IPS is out to make money. Can two entities - private RECs, if you will - compete in the same region? It may come down to which EMR/PM/RCM vendor you want.
Photo by spatulated courtesy of Creative Commons license.
