e-MDs to Offer Discounted EHRs to Washington and Idaho REC Providers

AUSTIN, Texas, June 29, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- e-MDs, a leading provider of electronic health records (EHRs), is pleased to announce they have been included in the Group Purchase Program as one of seven initial vendors by the Washington and Idaho Regional Extension Center (WIREC), the federally designated Health Information Technology Regional Extension Center (HITREC) for these states.  WIREC identified a list of vendors based on criteria designed to identify EHRs that would be able to help priority primary care providers care for patients in Washington and Idaho. e-MDs will work collaboratively with WIREC to promote the adoption and use of health IT by offering guidance, technical assistance, and training that will allow members of the WIREC program to attain Meaningful Use of e-MDs' certified EHR and qualify for incentive payments from CMS.  As a Group Purchase Program Vendor, e-MDs will draw from over 11 years of experience implementing EHRs in thousands of physician practices across the United States.

(Logo; http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20091117/DA12265LOGO)

e-MDs was chosen by the WIREC Group Purchase Program Stakeholder Committee, (a committee of representatives of the priority primary-care providers, administrators, and IT specialists actively practicing within the Regional Extension Center's geographic service area), based on a list of essential  features specific to the needs of primary care providers including strong feature sets, solid service level agreements and competitive pricing.  Additionally, e-MD's EHR had received the highest product ratings by the American Academy of Family Physicians, American College of Physicians, and 2010 Best in KLAS awards for Ambulatory EHR (2-5 physician) as well as Practice Management (2-5 physician).  

"WIREC sees great value in a group purchase option. In addition to providing discounted rates, vendors identified by the Stakeholder Committee agreed to favorable contract terms and provisions that small practices might not be able to negotiate on their own," said Peggy Evans, PhD, WIREC Director.

"We are honored to have been chosen to participate in WIREC's Group Purchase Program, and we are looking forward to helping providers in Washington and Idaho transition to electronic health records in a way that will benefit their patients and their practices," said Michael Stearns, MD, President and CEO of e-MDs.  "Our product has demonstrated its ability to get providers up and running on an EHR in a relatively short time period and we look forward to working closely with WIREC, in particular as the core principles of informatics are increasingly applied over subsequent stages of Meaningful Use."  

For more information on e-MDs, please visit www.e-MDs.com.  

Media Contact:

Kailey Lord, (512) 716-8243, [email protected]

About e-MDs

e-MDs is a leading developer of integrated electronic health records and practice management software for physician practices and enterprises.  Founded and actively managed by physicians, the company is an industry leader for usable, connected software that enables physician productivity and clinical excellence.  e-MDs software has received continual top rankings in physician and industry surveys including those conducted by the American Academy of Family Physicians and KLAS.  For more information, please visit www.e-mds.com, www.facebook.e-mds.com, and twitter.com/emds

About WIREC

Led by Qualis Health, WIREC provides technical assistance, guidance, vendor-neutral EHR adoption services, and information to eligible healthcare professionals to help them achieve meaningful use of EHRs and qualify for CMS incentive payments. WIREC was awarded a Cooperative Agreement through an objective review process by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT (ONC). WIREC serves as a direct pipeline to the national Regional Extension Center program, leveraging our connection to a national collaborative of RECs while bringing local expertise to support providers across the region with technical assistance for successful EHR adoption.   WIREC's provider technical assistance is carried out by a group of the region's premier health IT adoption organizations, including Community Choice, Idaho Health Data Exchange, North Idaho Health Network, PTSO of Washington and Qualis Health.

About Qualis Health

Qualis Health is dedicated to improving the quality of healthcare delivery and health outcomes for individuals and populations across the nation. Headquartered in Seattle, Washington, the nonprofit healthcare quality improvement and consulting organization strives to achieve performance excellence for our clients by focusing on best practices and providing a range of services that lead to better quality care, high patient and provider satisfaction and greater efficiency. Qualis Health holds the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Quality Improvement Organization (QIO) contracts for Idaho and Washington, and also provides care management, quality assessment and improvement and health information technology consulting services across the country. The organization's products and services directly influence care delivered to over 10 million people.

SOURCE e-MDs