Fredericksburg Nephrology Associates, Inc., Successfully Attests to Meaningful Use Using Acumen EHR

NASHVILLE, Tenn., May 11, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Health IT Services Group (HITSG) announced that on Monday, April 18, 2011, Fredericksburg Nephrology Associates, Inc. (FNA) in Fredericksburg, Virginia, successfully attested to meaningful use using Acumen nEHR version 6.0. Fredericksburg Nephrology, Inc., includes four of the almost 1,000 nephrology and mid-level providers using Acumen nEHR.

"The attestation process was seamless," said Randy Gertner, MD, of FNA. "The Acumen EHR easily captured our denominators and numerators in an intuitive fashion. Our group members were easily able to follow, in real time, their progress in achieving the meaningful use objectives. The meaningful use dashboard provided an ideal platform to meet all core and menu objectives, including dialysis patients through the MCP module which facilitated the entire process."

The Acumen nEHR product includes a meaningful use dashboard that tracks the nephrologist's progress toward reaching meaningful use goals. In December 2010, Acumen nEHR, version 6.0, was 2011/2012 ONC-ATCB Certified for meaningful use and is a CCHIT Certified® 2011 Ambulatory EHR.

"Most nephrology groups using Acumen should be able to attest successfully with a moderate amount of effort," stated Randy Gertner, MD. "Our group was delighted with the close and astute guidance provided by the Acumen staff to become one of the first meaningful use users."

HITSG has taken many steps to insure that their Acumen nEHR customers have the tools and knowledge to meet the meaningful use requirements, including a blog that was started in September 2010. The Acumen blog, which can be found on the Acumen website, focuses on the intersection of nephrology and health information technology. Terry Ketchersid, MD, MBA, a practicing nephrologist for 15 years, is the main blog contributor and HITSG's meaningful use expert.  

"The journey to reach meaningful use has just begun and we are excited to have customers like Fredericksburg Nephrology Associates, Inc., achieve this milestone so quickly." said Terry Ketchersid, MD and CMO of HITSG. "This is no easy task, but we hope that our customers utilize the information that we have provided them, both within the Acumen product and through our blog to successfully reach their goals."

About FNA

Fredericksburg Nephrology Associates, Inc. is located in central Virginia and is dedicated to serving the needs of patients suffering from all forms of kidney disease.  All modalities of renal replacement therapy are offered including hemodialysis, peritoneal dialysis, home hemodialysis, and continuous renal replacement therapy. Achieving meaningful use, through Acumen EHR, has allowed FNA to achieve this objective. This state of the art technology allows anytime secure access to our patient medical records, allowing optimal care in a complex medical environment. Additional information may be obtained at www.fredneph.com.

About HITSG

HITSG is a wholly owned subsidiary of Fresenius Medical Care North America, based in Brentwood, Tennessee. HITSG was formed to develop and deliver intuitive software tools to assist nephrologists in the practice of medicine. The Acumen solution was designed by nephrologists and made available under an internet-based service model. HITSG partners with dialysis organizations and systems, hospitals, vascular access centers, laboratory systems, HIEs and practice management systems to drive workflow and effectively streamline access, storage, and distribution of patient treatment information into the Acumen system. More information regarding Acumen EHR and Health IT Services Group can be found at www.AcumenEHR.com.

SOURCE Health IT Services Group