Sedgwick County Health Center Selects Prognosis HIS EHR

HOUSTON, Nov. 9, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- The rush to qualify for electronic health records adoption funds makes following the crowd a tempting choice but not necessarily the right one. Instead of implementing the same system that other providers in rural Colorado are using, Sedgwick County Health Center extensively evaluated other options and chose to go with an electronic health record (EHR) solution from Prognosis Health Information Systems.

"There is a lot of pressure around here to do what everyone else does. But we decided that we needed to really do our homework and pick the system that would ultimately best fit our hospital," said David Garnas, CEO at Sedgwick, a 12-bed hospital located in Julesburg, a Colorado town with a population of about 1500. "So, we evaluated systems based on workflow, ease of use and incentive fund reimbursement criteria."

A steering committee that included representatives from across the hospital compared proposals from seven EHR vendors that serve the rural and community hospital market. From there, two vendors were invited to provide demonstrations to the executives and clinical users at Sedgwick.

The ease of use and intuitiveness of the ChartAccess® Comprehensive EHR from Prognosis HIS piqued the selection committee's interest. Built as a "disruptive innovation," the solution provides a viable alternative to other options by providing a platform that helps community hospitals overcome the cost, speed of implementation, and usability obstacles commonly cited as impediments to electronic records success.

A shared web-native EHR system delivered via a cloud computing model, ChartAccess software applications are made available as a service over an encrypted health information network. The system's built in analytics and health information exchange (HIE) capabilities help hospitals provide consistent, high-quality patient care.

The fact that Prognosis has implemented many of these systems in less than 120 days – and has already helped 14 healthcare providers meet meaningful use sealed the deal, according to Garnas.

"The ability to utilize an online dashboard to track and direct progress toward meaningful use is something that is really important to us because we are looking to quickly qualify for the government's incentive funds. We realize that Prognosis really excels at helping hospitals leverage this tool to bring about meaningful use," Garnas said.

Sedgwick is planning to go-live on the system in February, completing implementation within 120 days and then attest to meaningful use to qualify for its share of the government's $27 billion in American Recovery and Reinvestment Act incentive monies.

"Our success is proving that we are offering a true innovation that the market really needs. Our EHR is making it possible for hospitals that might have previously been left on the sidelines to not only join the digital revolution but to become leaders in healthcare IT," said Ramsey Evans, CEO of Prognosis Health Information Systems. "Our powerful solution provides advanced functionality along with an implementation approach that is enabling rural and community hospitals to fully leverage the power of technology, and, more importantly, to improve the care and service that they deliver to their communities."

About Prognosis Health Information Systems

Prognosis Health Information Systems (PHIS), Houston, is committed to utilizing advanced 21st-Century technologies to help healthcare providers significantly improve the quality, safety and efficiency of patient care while also achieving better financial results. PHIS enables rural and community hospitals to utilize pure browser-based electronic health record (EHR) and financial systems designed to be fully operational in less than six months at a predictable, affordable cost. For more information, visit www.prognosisHIS.com. Follow us on Twitter (@PrognosisHIS).

SOURCE Prognosis Health Information Systems