Message #18 From:
NewsBot Date: November 7, 2006 05:00:00 AM
OPTO News Optio's Electronic Health Record (EHR) Solution Provides Smith Northview's Physicians with Remote Access to Lab Results
ALPHARETTA, Ga.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Optio® Healthcare
today announced that Smith Northview Hospital, a 31-bed facility in
rural Georgia, has selected Optio’s
subscription-based electronic health record (EHR) solution, QuickRecord®,
to provide physicians with remote access to lab results—an
effort that will help the facility increase bottom-line revenue.
Today’s physicians demand the accessibility
and convenience of remote access to patient information. “We’re
losing out on potential business without the ability to offer physicians
remote access to test results,” said Gilbert
Kidd, director of lab services for Smith Northview. “QuickRecord’s
Web-based access to clinical data gives us the competitive advantage we
need to win lab referrals with local physician practices, which will
help us to increase revenue and ultimately improve the quality of
patient care.”
While Smith Northview expands its network of lab contracts,
inter-facility processes will also benefit tremendously from this EHR
implementation. Smith Northview utilizes a number of clinical systems
including lab, radiology, document imaging, picture archive
communication systems (PACS) and transcription. However, accessing
documents within these systems demands multiple logins—making
it impossible to view a patient’s complete
medical history through one application. With QuickRecord, physicians
and caregivers will have instant access to a patient’s
health record, resulting in more timely and informed treatment decisions.
“We’re excited
about making our physician’s lives easier
with Optio QuickRecord Suite,” said Chuck
Roberts, Smith Northview’s assistant
administrator and director of business development. “The
technology we have implemented stacks up well against many larger
hospitals. We like to think of our facility as a high-tech hospital with
a small-town feel.”
Referring physicians will also benefit from Optio’s
EHR solution; they will be notified electronically when patients’
test results are available and can securely view clinical data online
from any Internet portal.
“We have been searching for two years for a
solution to consolidate all of our electronic data into one composite
patient view,” said Shamb Purohit, Chief
Financial Officer of Smith Northview. “Optio
QuickRecord will provide our physicians with a single point of access
and allow them to electronically sign documents and view lab results
from any connected location, whether in the hospital, their office or
their home.” Purohit expects the
implementation of QuickRecord to result in measurable cost savings,
improved healthcare and more efficient administrative practices.
Smith Northview is among the estimated 2,000 rural hospitals across the
United States challenged with finding affordable EHR solutions that
comply with the nationwide push toward interoperable EHR systems. With
QuickRecord, Smith Northview plans to take this electronic initiative
one step further by consolidating disparate hospital information systems
(HIS) into one central repository of patient information.
Smith Northview is one of 55 rural facilities that have joined HomeTown
Health, a Georgia-based advocacy group that helps Georgia’s
rural healthcare facilities overcome cost-related adoption challenges by
providing them with health information technology (HIT), strategies and
training. As one of HomeTown Health’s 30
business partners, Optio Healthcare has taken a proactive approach to
expanding EHR adoption to Georgia’s rural
communities. Optio QuickRecord boasts a rapid implementation rate,
remote support and web-based training that specifically address the
budget and staffing restrictions common in small hospitals.
“This partnership is further proof of Optio’s
commitment to providing small hospitals with the technology needed to
deliver quality care,” said Mike McGuire,
Optio’s senior vice president and general
manager of healthcare sales and service. “We
expect Smith Northview to be the first of many HomeTown Health members
throughout Georgia to take advantage of our affordable,
subscription-based EHR model.”
About Smith Northview
Smith Northview is a 31-bed facility serving a six-county region in the
Valdosta, Ga., area. The hospital offers a variety of inpatient,
outpatient services and procedures such as inpatient dialysis,
orthopedic surgery, radiology and nuclear medicine as well as labor and
delivery and pediatric surgery. As a JCAHO-accredited facility, Smith
Northview provides the highest standard in quality of care to its
patients.
About HomeTown Health
HomeTown Health, LLC is an advocacy organization of 55 rural and/or
small hospitals that works with its 30 business partners to develop and
implement strategies that help Georgia’s
struggling healthcare facilities survive tremendous challenges,
including rising costs and government budget cuts, while continuing to
deliver quality healthcare to their communities.
About Optio Software, Inc.
Optio Software (OTCBB:OPTO) with 25 years of experience and more than
5,000 clients, worldwide, provides software solutions dedicated to
helping customers achieve unprecedented speed, accuracy, functionality
and quality in their inbound and outbound document processes, while
extending the value of their Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) and
Hospital Information Systems (HIS) applications. More than 5,000
organizations rely on Optio Software for innovative business process
improvement solutions that allow them to reduce transactional activities
and focus on core responsibilities. Headquartered in Alpharetta Ga.,
Optio Software maintains European, Middle Eastern and African
headquarters in Paris, France and sales offices in the United States,
Germany and the United Kingdom. For more information about Optio
Software or to contact a local Optio sales consultant, reach us at
770.576.3500 or visit our website at www.optio.com.
About Optio Healthcare Solutions:
More than 700 healthcare organizations use Optio’s
affordable Electronic Health Record (EHR), forms automation and clinical
document management solutions to capture, format, scan, view, sign,
archive and deliver real-time access to patient information at the point
of need. For more information about Optio’s
leading-edge healthcare solutions, visit www.optiohealthcare.com.
