ATLANTA, Feb. 9, 2010 – Spurred by economic stimulus incentives and a desire to implement an advanced electronic health record (EHR), Citrus Memorial Health System has chosen to upgrade its hospital information system (HIS) with McKesson’s Paragon® community HIS. As part of the agreement, McKesson will remotely host the new solution for the Inverness, Fla., hospital.
The Paragon HIS will be the foundation of the health system’s use of McKesson solutions for document management and medical imaging. New for Citrus Memorial will be a computerized physician order entry system (CPOE), which will enable physicians to electronically submit patient orders – increasing order efficiency and eliminating the chance for errors related to poor handwriting. Additionally, Citrus Memorial plans to connect with physicians in its outpatient clinics using McKesson’s Practice Partner® ambulatory EHR.
“We wanted to expand our IT strategy with a comprehensive, clinically-focused, enterprise-wide system that had maximum interoperability and offered better total cost of ownership,” said Jim Meister, director of information services, Citrus Memorial Health System. “When the stimulus funding was announced, it provided us with an opportunity to accelerate our efforts.”
Paragon is specifically designed to address the unique needs of a community hospital setting. Robust, affordable, and easy-to use, the Paragon HIS integrates critical financial and clinical solutions on a single platform. Those benefits translate into reduced training time for staff, enhanced data management and ease of deployment. Also, the solution recently achieved the “Best in KLAS” ranking for Community HIS in the 2009 Top 20 Best in KLAS Awards: Software & Professional Services report for the fourth consecutive year.[1]
According to Meister, the benefits of Paragon were enhanced by McKesson’s Practice Partner solution, an award-winning EHR and practice management solution that enables physicians to enhance quality of patient care and improve bottom-line efficiencies. These solutions, coupled with remote hosting services, made for a winning combination.
“After comparing costs for onsite and offsite hosting, we found very little difference between the two in direct costs, and a marked advantage in indirect costs,” said Meister. “And in terms of our location—Florida is susceptible to hurricanes—we gain peace of mind with McKesson’s 24/7 connectivity.”
By increasing efficiencies and improving healthcare outcomes, the Citrus initiative will help the hospital to better serve its central Florida community and, Meister believes, gain a competitive edge in the market.
“After the installation is complete, we will be able to do a much better job serving our patients,” said Meister. “We made an excellent decision for our future.” www.mckesson.com
