Quammen Health Care Consultants Leads Faith Regional Health Services to EHR Meaningful Use

MURFREESBORO, Tenn., Nov. 29, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- With Quammen Health Care Consultants leading the charge, Faith Regional Health Services blazed a new trail in rural Nebraska -- one that has led the 227-bed hospital to successfully attest to the meaningful use of an electronic health records system and to qualify for its share of the government's $27 billion in incentive funds. 

"For many years, rural hospitals have been sitting on the wrong side of the 'digital divide' in the health care industry, struggling to come up with the financial and human resources that could support a foray into electronic health records," says Jim Sinek, CEO of the regional referral center. "But as we recognized the many clinical benefits associated with EHRs and the fact that the government was offering incentive funds, we decided that we would do whatever it takes to find a way to make EHRs a reality right here in Norfolk, Nebraska."

Quammen Health Care Consultants (QHCC) worked with Faith to overcome some of the common obstacles to EHR success for rural providers. To start, Quammen negotiated with Siemens, Malvern, Pa., to "right size" the Soarian Clinicals solution, which is typically used by larger providers. As a result, Faith is now able to afford and utilize the feature-rich system as the basis of its EDGE (Electronic Data to Gain Excellence) EHR. A "big-bang" implementation approach, unique training methods and a razor-like focus on getting physicians to use computerized provider order entry from the get-go all contributed to the successful and quick EHR implementation, which unfolded in a matter of just six months.

After going live on the system in June of 2010, Faith successfully attested to Stage 1 meaningful use on November 2, 2011. Faith is the first Siemens clinical customer in an eight-state region (Nebraska, Iowa, North Dakota, South Dakota, Kansas, Missouri, Arkansas and Kentucky) to meet the ARRA requirements -- and is among a select group of community and rural hospitals across the country to do so.

"We've been meeting many of the meaningful use requirements since the very first day of our go-live, when clinicians entered about 70% of orders through computerized provider order entry, far exceeding the government's requirements," says Becky Quammen, CIO of Faith Regional and CEO of QHCC. "By questioning commonly held assumptions surrounding the implementation of EHRs, we have really been able to forge a new model for the rural health care provider. The fact that Faith is one of the first wave of rural providers across the country to attest to meaningful use proves that our approach is what's needed to bring this much needed technology to communities in the nation's heartland."

The success is expected to continue -- as the implementation of the EHR at Faith was not merely designed to meet Stage 1 meaningful use stipulations but to meet subsequent requirements and to ultimately improve care as well. In fact, with the robust system in place, Faith has already exceeded many of the Stage 2 meaningful use requirements and is well on its way toward leveraging the EHR to substantially improve clinical care and patient safety.

"With the EHR in place, we have already been able to reduce costs and improve productivity throughout the hospital," Sinek says. "Physicians and other clinicians are using the EHR to transform how they deliver care. And, in the final analysis, the patients in our community will benefit the most as we provide the best possible clinical care and service."  

About Quammen Health Care Consultants
A full-service healthcare information system and business consultancy, Quammen Health Care Consultants (QHCC) offers planning, assessment and implementation services that support a wide range of health system initiatives. Healthcare providers of all sizes rely on QHCC for high-level analysis, vendor selection, deployment and support of any healthcare system available today. From strategic advisory services to hands-on implementation, QHCC helps health systems make the right choices, improve operations and achieve clinical and business objectives. For more information, visit www.quammengroup.com or call 407-539-2015.

SOURCE Quammen Health Care Consultants