Rural Healthcare Provider Boosts Its Quality Care With Complete EHR Implementation

By Karla Paris

California-based, rural health system expands partnership with Healthland in its effort to achieve MU attestation.

Southern Humboldt Community Healthcare District (SHCHD) and its Jerold Phelps Community Hospital has partnered with Healthland to address its major financial and clinical technology enhancement. Healthland Centriq, a fully integrated suite of solutions across the continuum of inpatient, financial, ambulatory, and emergency department services was chosen to help the District provide quality care to its community more effectively and efficiently.

SHCHD operates a small acute care district hospital, Jerold Phelps Community Hospital, in southern Humboldt County. In some form, healthcare has been offered to the people of this community on this location since 1949. The community hospital itself was formed in 1960, which eventually led to the formation of the Healthcare District in 1980. District services include an acute care hospital, emergency, laboratory and radiology services, skilled nursing facility, and a Rural Health Clinic, the Southern Humboldt Community Clinic.

While the district had experience with Healthland’s legacy financial offering, it is significantly expanding its technology platform. District CEO, Harry Jasper added that like most U.S. hospitals, his organization has been challenged by the federal Meaningful Use technology standards.

“We’ve seen other organizations similar to ours achieve Meaningful Use attestation in partnership with Healthland, so we signed on Healthland as our partner for our drive to achieve Meaningful Use attestation and federal incentives,” he said.

Healthland Centriq features a simple, intuitive user interface that’s easy for SHCHD clinicians to use, ensuring user adoption, which translates into increased patient and clinician satisfaction. Because it’s built on a web-based platform, it’s available anytime, anywhere, on any device connected to the Internet.

As part of the Centriq EHR, data feeds into a central location and integrates with other care areas – Long-Term Care, Home Health, and Clinic – providing users with a view of patient information, past, and present, from all care areas. SHCHD anticipates full implementation of Healthland Centriq will help achieve its organizational goals:

• Consistent delivery of high-quality patient care, supported by tools that help clinicians manage patient medications, avoid drug interactions, and view patient progress over time.
• Improved patient experience and outcomes.
• Access to comprehensive patient information and clinical decision support tools allowing clinicians to provide efficient, informed, results-driven care.
• Satisfied clinicians with improved productivity.
• The functionality needed to demonstrate Meaningful Use and qualify for ARRA incentive payments.

SOURCE: BusinessWire