MEDHOST Drives Meaningful Use Stage 2 Success In Texas

Hamilton General Hospital stands among elite facilities to quickly meet CMS Meaningful Use rules

Fueled by the momentum of meeting Meaningful Use Stage 1 early, Hamilton General Hospital has successfully used 2Q 2014 data to meet Meaningful Use Stage 2 requirements. The 42-bed, Hamilton, Texas, facility’s latest accomplishments relied heavily on multiple MEDHOST solutions.

Hamilton is one of several MEDHOST Customers to already attest for Meaningful Use Stage 2. MEDHOST’s clinical solutions fit Hamilton’s workflow so well that 100 percent of physicians adopted the technology quickly. With such high MEDHOST utilization, Hamilton met the required Meaningful Use Stage 2 computerized provider order entry (CPOE) core objectives by only using physician orders, which is extremely rare as hospitals notoriously struggle with physician adoption of new healthcare technology. 

“Meaningful Use is a marathon, not a sprint, but that doesn’t mean you can afford to be slow out of the blocks,”said Millie Shinn, RN, clinical informaticist at Hamilton General Hospital. “We took the bull by the horns, instilling project ownership hospital-wide – from administration to clinicians and IT staff. MEDHOST’s clinician-friendly solutions created unprecedented physician adoption, a key ingredient to tackling Meaningful Use Stage 2 head-on.”

To meet the Meaningful Use Stage 2 requirements prescribed by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), Hamilton used multiple MEDHOST solutions, including:

• Integrated, inpatient electronic health record(www.medhost.com/offerings/enterprise-solutions) (EHR)
• YourCareCommunity(www.medhost.com/offerings/your-care-community) healthcare engagement platform
• YourCareLink(www.medhost.com/offerings/your-care-link) turn-key public health reporting service
• Emergency Department Information System(www.medhost.com/offerings/edis) (EDIS), a complete EHR for the ED
• Business Intelligence (www.medhost.com/offerings/business-intelligence) (BI) SaaS- and cloud-based executive dashboard 

“As our long-time healthcare solutions partner, MEDHOST technology and services were invaluable, and we couldn’t have attested as quickly without them,” said Shinn. “Attesting for Meaningful Use Stage 2 early means the hospital will receive its incentive payment sooner and can more quickly reinvest that money into other advancements that will help keep our scope and quality of care where our community wants them to be.” 

“Hamilton General Hospital has always been at the tip of the technology spear, showing how to harness healthcare IT for the benefit of patients,” said Craig Herrod, president of MEDHOST. “To achieve success adopting technology and changing clinical processes, Hamilton General knows the keys to success often lie outside one’s comfort zone. They continually demonstrate a commitment to overcome any obstacle to provide the best care for the Hamilton community. We’re proud to play a part in their amazing story.” 

About MEDHOST
MEDHOST, Inc. is a provider of market-leading enterprise, departmental and healthcare engagement solutions to approximately 1,000 healthcare facilities. Our healthcare management system includes intuitive, easy-to-use and SaaS-enabled solutions complemented by a robust suite of managed hosting, outsourcing and consulting services that are changing how clinicians and hospital leaders work and communicate, while generating notable operational, patient flow, care and revenue improvements. MEDHOST delivers value by enabling hospitals of all types and all sizes to better manage care and the business of healthcare while meeting evolving regulatory requirements.