Better healthcare takes people, process and technology
11/1/2012
Russellville Hospital Recognized by CMS for Successful Completion of Stage 1 Meaningful Use for Electronic Health Record Technology
By Christine Stewart, Chief Executive Officer of Russellville Hospital
Many people have heard the buzz of healthcare reform and are aware, to some degree, that the healthcare industry has experienced major changes over the last few years and continues to evolve. While the changes are numerous and complex, a few key themes stand out: the increased focus on quality care and the growing role of technology in healthcare delivery.
These are two issues that you can see played out locally at Russellville Hospital. Our hospital’s top priority has been and will continue to be providing high quality care to patients in our community. This focus has not changed for us. What has changed is how we are using technology to arm our employees and clinicians with the proper tools to help us provide the highest quality of evidence-based patient care possible.
A recent example is Russellville Hospital’s recognition by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) for successfully completing the first of three stages in the process of becoming a meaningful user of technology. We earned this recognition by demonstrating that our employees and medical staff are utilizing Electronic Health Records (EHRs) in an effective way that will help advance patient care. This is a major milestone and one for which hospitals across the country – rural and urban, acute care and regional referral centers alike – have been challenged by CMS to achieve.
Achieving the first stage of “Meaningful Use,” as CMS calls it, took the dedication of employees across nearly all clinical and non-clinical departments of our hospital. We leveraged our EHR technology to transfer patient records from paper to digital formats, which will make them more easily accessible and useful to clinicians. Several process changes were implemented, including how patients are registered when they arrive at our hospital, how we document the care we provide, and how we measure patient care results.
The process of completing the final two stages of Meaningful Use recognition will occur over the next few years, and our employees are committed to continuing on our path to success. The outcome of achieving Meaningful Use is that Russellville Hospital will be able to collect and share information and critical data that can be utilized on the spot by medical staff to inform patient care decisions and support the delivery of high quality care.
At Russellville Hospital, we are proud that we are rising to the challenges of our evolving industry landscape in a productive way that benefits the community we love so much. We are committed to continue enhancing patient care in our community through people, process and technology.