Cass County Memorial Hospital in Atlantic, Iowa, is in the process of what officials are calling a "big bang" implementation in overhauling their current IT system.
Cass County Memorial, an 11-provider practice with multiple locations throughout the city as well as a rural health clinic, is deploying an electronic health record and practice management system from Austin, Tex.-based e-MDs.
"Our decision to go with e-MDs was based on how user-friendly the system was for our providers, RHC billing capabilities, and the vendor's ability to meet meaningful use criteria," said Steve Stark, assistant administrator/CIO of Cass County Health System. "The ability to build templates on-the-fly and the mobility of the system also appealed to our providers. Going with e-MDs was not only an IT choice; it was also a provider and end-user choice."
Last month the Iowa Foundation for Medical Care (IFMC), the state's Health Information Technology Regional Extension Center (FMC HITREC), selected e-MDs one of its six ambulatory EHR vendors to its Iowa preferred vendor list.
The goal of the IFMC HITREC is to help at least 1,200 Iowa physicians, physician's assistants and nurse practitioners adopt and meaningfully use certified EHR technology over the next two years.
"IFMC improves the quality and cost-effectiveness of healthcare," says Jeff Chungath, IFMC CEO. "Our partnerships with preferred vendors enables us to effect greater change across Iowa."
e-MDs is currently supporting the hospital through the initial stages of implementation, assisting with a clinical conversion and working on several interfaces to the system. Cass County Memorial Hospital hopes to carry out a "big bang" implementation. With the aid of e-MDs and the Cass County internal IT staff they will be switching everything from their current system integrated solution over to the integrated e-MDs Solution Series EHR and Practice Management system at once.
"e-MDs feels honored to have been chosen as the technology partner for such a prestigious group in Iowa," said Michael Stearns, MD, the CEO of e-MDs. "We look forward to helping other Iowa practices and clinics make similar improvements. Cass County Memorial Hospital is a leader in Iowa's movement towards EHR implementation and meaningful use, and their patients stand to benefit from the commitment they've made towards enhancing the quality of care they provide to the citizens of southwest Iowa through technology."
