HOUSTON, Feb. 7, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Providers are feeling the need to integrate clinical and financial operations across their enterprises to succeed under emerging payment models. Flint River Hospital and Oklahoma Surgical Hospital are meeting this growing challenge by implementing an enterprise clinical and financial system from Prognosis Health Information Systems.
"Patient care and revenue management must work in tandem if healthcare providers are going to succeed under changing payment models that will be based on proving clinical value, not merely quantifying services," said Philip Eastman, Director, Flint River Hospital, a 40-bed hospital in Montezuma, Ga. "The next level of healthcare delivery is becoming more integrated, and we felt the need to put information systems in place to support this model."
Flint River has been using the Prognosis patient and general accounting system for about ten years. With incentives available through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, Flint River leaders wanted to add a clinical system to their computing portfolio. After reviewing several options, they chose the ChartAccess® Comprehensive EHR from Prognosis HIS because of its ease of use and close integration with the company's financial system.
Flint River began implementation of the ChartAccess EHR in early 2012 – and expects to quickly qualify for government incentives being made available through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, while also improving overall clinical care. With the normal 120 day implementation schedule, Flint River will be able to begin its 90-day Meaningful Use attestation period well before the last 2012 deadline of July 1.
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, 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.
"From a management perspective, we expect to gain more control over our clinical and financial operations," Eastman said. "Because the EHR system is being hosted in the cloud, our managers are able to – from any location – log in and download reports that help them to get some insight on what is going on from both a financial and clinical perspective."
The financial solution offers powerful revenue management modules including patient accounting, accounts payable and A/R collection tools. The system stands out from other available financial systems as the advanced solution can produce one single unified patient statement with information from inpatient, outpatient and long-term care providers. With many other systems, patients are bombarded with a series of individual statements from each provider.
"We are offering what rural and community hospitals need – a comprehensive computing solution that makes it possible to meet goals such as achieving meaningful use, improving patient safety and succeeding under new payment models," said Ramsey Evans, CEO of Prognosis HIS. "Our system, however, is different in that it not only offers the potential to meet these goals but also helps community and rural hospitals deal expediently with the complicated challenges that are so pervasive in healthcare today."
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