MEDITECH Works with Customers to Boost Information Sharing (9/08/2008)

A customer for over 15 years, Silver Cross Hospital (Joliet, IL) is successfully sharing patient information electronically by connecting health care facilities across their local care community. Due to their success, Newt Gingrich recently toured the Silver Cross Hospital Emergency Department and Hedges Clinic (Frankfort, IL) to observe how electronic medical records can link several physicians, caring for the same patient, at different times and different points along the care spectrum. "I think what you're doing—in beginning to reach out to doctors and integrating the whole community—is really, really important," the former speaker of the House told the audience at Silver Cross. "And I encourage you to continue doing it and develop it." Gingrich is the founder of the Center for Health Transformation, an organization seeking large-scale change in American health care. He is working on a proposal to have the industry—every doctor, hospital, pharmacy—shift to electronic records by the end of December 2012. At the Hedges Clinic, Gingrich witnessed a simulation in a doctor's office between a family practice physician at Hedges and a patient (Silver Cross' CIO Matt Ebaugh) at Silver Cross. The conditions were reported by the patient, and the physician entered the information into a laptop computer. After the physician answered a series of questions on his laptop, Ebaugh was referred to an Ear, Nose, and Throat specialist, who could immediately view his medical information in the office. MEDITECH Marketing Consultants Jeanne Gullage and Ken Laliberte joined John Valutkevich, MEDITECH's senior marketing support of electronic health records initiatives, at Silver Cross to meet with the hospital staff and attend the demonstration. While at the Silver Cross Emergency Department, Gingrich observed Ebaugh's simulated record, which was accessible by Silver Cross' medical director of Emergency Medical Services. They were impressed to learn if a patient needs to visit the Emergency Department, physicians there can have quick access to a record of previous doctor visits. During lunch, Gingrich spoke of the emergence of electronic health records and the practical application demonstrated at Silver Cross. The hospital's senior staff followed with questions and suggestions relating to Medicare and Medicaid processing inefficiencies, malpractice insurance, and electronic health care initiatives funding. "As a commitment to helping our customers connect communities and mobilize their data, MEDITECH continues to work with Silver Cross to boost the information sharing, as they connect to other vendor EMRs in physicians' offices," said Valutkevich.