Siemens Applauds First Health System Customers to Successfully Attest to Meaningful Use

MALVERN, Pa., April 20, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, Siemens Healthcare (NYSE: SI) applauds its first two health system customers to successfully attest and achieve Stage 1 Meaningful Use of an Electronic Health Record, as defined in the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) EHR Incentive Program. MedCentral Health System, Mansfield, Ohio, and Riverside Health System, Newport News, Va., have completed a 90-day reporting period, met required CMS benchmarks for EHR adoption and have successfully submitted data to the CMS EHR Incentive Program Web Portal. No timetable has been provided for the receipt of initial 2011 incentive payments.

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"We are extremely proud of the determination shown by these two health system customers, and their thousands of clinicians, IT staff and administrators, who have worked tirelessly to deploy these systems in a way that is clinically relevant and that provides an opportunity to deliver transformative patient care," said John Glaser, PhD, CEO, Health Services Business Unit, Siemens Healthcare. "These two customers, along with all the others that will attest to Meaningful Use, are proving that the type of health IT adoption that was envisioned as part of the CMS EHR Incentive Program is achievable. We applaud all those hospitals, health systems, and eligible providers who are taking these first dramatic steps."

On Jan. 3, 2011, CMS officially opened registration for the EHR Incentive Program for hospitals and eligible providers (EPs). Over the course of a 90-day reporting period, hospitals and EPs collect data about compliance with various criteria that show the hospital or EP has met specific benchmarks (e.g., more than 30% of unique patients with at least one medication in their medication list seen by the EP or admitted to the eligible hospital's or critical access hospital's inpatient or emergency department have at least one medication order entered using CPOE). Those data are then submitted to the CMS EHR Incentive Portal for final review and determination that the hospital or EP has met Stage 1 Meaningful Use criteria.

A Siemens customer since 2003, MedCentral Health System maintains 351 registered beds across two hospitals in the north-central Ohio area. The health system's leaders are longtime proponents of a completely integrated approach that seamlessly blends clinical practice, medical imaging, and laboratory hardware.  

"These solutions are giving us opportunities, on a daily basis, to positively affect the way we care for patients," said James E. Meyer, President and CEO, MedCentral. "Technology is just one component. It is also important to have a staff that believes in the technology and its ability to supplement their training and medical knowledge, and to reduce the potential for human error in patient care. We talk about Meaningful Use, but that level of security makes these tools meaningful to patients."

Similarly, Riverside Health System, Newport News, Va., a 904-bed, five-hospital health network based in Newport News, Va., has adopted a completely integrated approach to delivering health IT to improve both clinical and financial performance.

"We believe there is transformative power behind properly implemented health IT systems with a direct benefit on the quality of care we deliver to patients," said John Stanley, CIO, Riverside Health System. "The CMS EHR Incentive Program is positive validation of a process that has been running for years at Riverside Health System and that has culminated in the adoption of a completely paperless physician ordering workflow. This could not have come about without the dedication of our physicians, nurses, clinicians, and administrators who all undertook a bold new approach to address traditional challenges in clinical routine."

The Siemens Healthcare Sector is one of the world's largest suppliers to the healthcare industry and a trendsetter in medical imaging, laboratory diagnostics, medical information technology and hearing aids. Siemens offers its customers products and solutions for the entire range of patient care from a single source – from prevention and early detection to diagnosis, and on to treatment and aftercare. By optimizing clinical workflows for the most common diseases, Siemens also makes healthcare faster, better and more cost-effective. Siemens Healthcare employs some 48,000 employees worldwide and operates around the world. In fiscal year 2010 (to September 30), the Sector posted revenue of 12.4 billion euros and profit of around 750 million euros. For further information please visit: www.siemens.com/healthcare.

SOURCE Siemens Healthcare