PCRMC Achieves ARRA Stage 1 Status
1/30/2012
Phelps County Regional Medical Center (PCRMC) leads the nation again in successfully achieving Stage One by implementing Meaningful Use criteria of the American Reinvestment and Recovery Act (ARRA). PCRMC received $2,939,077.55 through ARRA’s incentive program to continue advances and further stage implementation. Achieving this standard puts PCRMC in the top ten percent of hospitals across the US to complete stage one.
"We are proud of the advances we've made with our Meditech solution to meet the government's mandates," says David Dawdy, PCRMC CIO. "The money we receive from the government will enable us to strengthen our EHR efforts and continue to meet the highest standards in care delivery."
What is Meaningful Use?
According to Health IT.gov, Meaningful Use utilizes the electronic health record (EHR) technology to improve quality, safety, efficiency, and reduce health disparities within hospitals. It serves as an outlet to engage patients and family along with maintaining privacy and security of patient health information. Meaningful Use sets specific objectives that eligible professionals and hospitals must achieve to qualify for stage status.
“As a result of ten years of hard work and visionary development, PCRMC was positioned to be at the front of the line in achieving Meaningful Use status. Meaningful Use Status means that PCRMC demonstrated their electronic computer system was completely operational and functional in every capacity,” said Donald James, Chief Medical Officer.
PCRMC started their EHR efforts in 2001 before incentive programs were announced. For all the right reasons, PCRMC embraced the compliance in hopes of increasing coordination of care, improving better clinic outcomes and empowering patients through access of their health information.
Efforts amplified overall effectiveness by rewarding a more organized, more coordinated, and more efficient care. PCRMC in 2007 received Most Wired, Small and Rural Hospital recognition along with being acknowledged by HIMSS as a Stage Six hospital in 2009. Over a progression of high ratings and standards, PCRMC began mapping progress towards ARRA Meaningful Use compliance which was obtained in 2011.
Next Generation of Health Care Information
PCRMC is continuing to transform health care communication through a more robust health record system for the patient. Dawdy shares that PCRMC is currently focused on meeting Stage two requirements for the 2012 fiscal year. "We are using reports to actively monitor our compliance for each objective, and ensure we continue to meet the required thresholds throughout the year." The requirements for stage two will be finalized within the next month.
Along with meeting government mandates like ARRA, PCRMC will be launching several new technology services this year. Look for the following upcoming features and services in 2012: Patient Portal, Online Bill Pay, ICD-10 Implementation and many more. Through transformation, PCRMC is embracing technology to enhance the patients’ experience. The number one commitment is to meet our patients’ expectations by providing the highest quality of service.
Sources Used:
http://www.himss.org/ASP/topics_ehr.asp
http://www.healthit.gov/providers-professionals/meaningful-use-definition-objectives
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