United Medical Centers, A Texas-Based Community Health Center, Selects Sage To Help Meet Reform Requirements, Improve Clinical Efficiency
Sage Healthcare Division, a unit of Sage North America and a major provider of electronic health records (EHR) and practice management software and services, announced recently that United Medical Centers (UMC), an eight-practice community health center in Eagle Pass, Texas, will implement the Sage Intergy Meaningful Use Edition to meet the practice's financial and clinical needs.
United Medical Centers provides primary healthcare services to insured and uninsured patients, in a bilingual, bi-cultural community, encompassing Maverick, Val Verde and Kinney counties located in southwest Texas on the U.S. border. United Medical Centers offers pediatric, OB/GYN, family medicine and internal medicine, among other specialties, in addition to operating an in-house laboratory and pharmacy and providing radiology services.
Founded in 1973, United Medical Centers has served the community 38 years. The clinic serves more than 28,900 patients annually, who George Kypuros, CEO of United Medical Centers says, will "greatly benefit from our use of an EHR system during their visit."
"After considering 18 EHR systems and listening to sales presentations from 11 vendors, UMC's team of medical providers and IT leadership staff felt that the Sage was the best fit for our center," said Kypuros.
Kypuros said the Sage Intergy Meaningful Use Edition will provide greater patient safety; improve quality patient care and chart documentation (thoroughness and legibility); improve coding; reduce patient wait times; help create more efficient compliance with and reporting of outcome indicators for federal, state and regulatory agencies; as well as reduce and eliminate inaccessible results and charts.
"At UMC, we believe that access to healthcare is a right, not a privilege," Kypuros said. "Therefore, we strive to ensure that our doors are open to all individuals in our communities, that we provide the absolute best in care and are able to create more efficiencies while meeting our business needs. We believe Sage helps us meet these goals."
United Medical Centers is moving from the Sage Medical Manager practice management system to Sage's EHR solution. While the Sage Intergy Meaningful Use Edition is robust and offers one of the most comprehensive reporting tools in the healthcare market, support and service are the two key factors of United Medical Center's decision to upgrade to the EHR.
Martha Elguezabal, chief information officer of United Medical Centers, said, "For years I have worked with our current practice management system, Sage Medical Manager, and my experience throughout has been that Sage's service is professional, reliable and something we can depend on to ensure that our system is always operating properly."
Sage Healthcare Division has one of the largest U.S. physician practice footprints among software solution providers in the market, providing ambulatory healthcare systems for almost 30 years, serving more than 400,000 healthcare professionals including 80,000 physicians in the United States and more than 20 percent of all CHCs.
Sage Intergy Meaningful Use Edition provides an integrated clinical, financial and administrative solution with consolidated reporting and efficient system maintenance. Patient data can be shared or isolated across practices and locations, allowing secure access from anywhere to providers and staff. Patients have access to their clinical record and a range of web-based services from the Sage Intergy Practice Portal from anywhere there is an Internet connection. The solution also features a full complement of integrated clinical and financial services including claims, remittance, eligibility verification, e-prescriptions and lab results.
"Sage Healthcare Division maintains its commitment to supporting our clients, and dedicating ourselves to a physician-focused, patient-centric approach," said Betty Otter-Nickerson, president of Sage Healthcare Division. "We are dedicated to providing solutions for CHCs and their patients and helping all CHCs meet their healthcare and business needs."
About United Medical Centers
United Medical Centers (UMC) is an independent non-profit corporation whose main objective is to improve the quality of life through the provision of comprehensive healthcare services. UMC is a TJC Accredited Community Health Center (CHC) whose mission is to assure the availability and accessibility of basic primary and preventive health care services to all residents of the service area.
About Sage Healthcare Division
Sage Healthcare Division provides integrated electronic health records, EDI applications and practice management systems to approximately 80,000 physicians and thousands of ambulatory care practices throughout North America. These systems enable physicians and practice managers to better manage their practices and improve quality of care. Sage Healthcare Division is based in Tampa, Fla., and is a division of Sage North America.
About Sage North America
Sage North America is part of The Sage Group plc, a leading global supplier of business management software and services. Sage North America employs 4,000 people and supports 3.2 million small and midsized business customers including approximately 80,000 physicians. The Sage Group plc, formed in 1981, was floated on the London Stock Exchange in 1989 and now employs 13,400 people and supports 6.3 million customers worldwide.
SOURCE: Sage