The newly-signed agreement will bring the company's Centricity® Practice for Community Health Centers to Hamilton Community Health Network (HCHN), a 25-physician, six campus practice serving the Flint, Michigan area's uninsured and underinsured. According to 2008 U.S. Census Data, Flint's poverty rate sits at 35.5 percent, tied for the fifth highest among the country's medium and large communities. In addition, one in four residents of Genesee County, Hamilton's primary service area, lacks health insurance.
As part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA), the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) recently awarded grants totaling more than $2 million to HCHN for capital improvements, including the adoption of an EMR. "We are so fortunate to have the federal funding in place to make an investment like this," said Clarence Pierce, CEO of HCHN. "We had been searching for an EMR for some time, but with this infusion from HRSA we were able to choose a solution provider for the long term. The stability of GE and their commitment to improving healthcare access and quality were a key part of our decision. With Centricity, we're able to bring in a CCHIT-certified EMR system that can measurably improve our workflow and the level of care we're able to offer the patients that rely upon our centers each year. We look forward to working with GE on the implementation, which will enable us to continue to serve the people in our communities during a time of extreme economic strife."
Hamilton will also replace its existing practice management system through their selection of Centricity Practice for Community Health Centers, GE's integrated clinical and financial solution for community health centers. The agreement also outfits HCHN with tools to support their centers' expanded data collection needs, UDS and Title X reporting requirements, CHC-specific billing demands, and hardware for the network's soon-to-open data center.
"This is a market that needs our attention and a vulnerable patient population that cannot be ignored," said Vishal Wanchoo, CEO of GE Healthcare Information Technology. "We're pleased to be working with a leader like Hamilton and helping them to provide the care their community so desperately needs."
ABOUT CENTRICITY ELECTRONIC MEDICAL RECORD:
Centricity EMR is an electronic medical record system that enables ambulatory care physicians and clinical staff to document patient encounters, streamline clinical workflow, and securely exchange clinical data with other providers, patients, and information systems.
Centricity EMR is used by thousands of physicians to manage millions of patient records, and is among the most widely used ambulatory care electronic medical records. Centricity EMR empowers healthcare providers to deliver the highest quality of care at lower costs.
Centricity EMR version 9.2 from GE Healthcare is a CCHIT® Certified product for Certification Commission for Healthcare Information Technology (CCHIT® ) Ambulatory EHR 2008 + Cardiovascular + Child Health. The Commission's product certification designates that a healthcare information technology product has been tested against a comprehensive set of functionality, interoperability and security criteria and has passed inspection of 100 percent of the criteria. The Certification Commission's inspection process is based on real-life medical scenarios designed to test products rigorously against the clinical documentation needs of providers and the quality and safety needs of healthcare consumers and payers.
For more information about Centricity EMR, visit our website at www.gehealthcare.com/emr.
CCHIT® and CCHIT Certified® are registered marks of the Certification Commission for Healthcare Information Technology.
ABOUT GE HEALTHCARE:
GE Healthcare provides transformational medical technologies and services that are shaping a new age of patient care. Our broad expertise in medical imaging and information technologies, medical diagnostics, patient monitoring systems, drug discovery, biopharmaceutical manufacturing technologies, performance improvement and performance solutions services help our customers to deliver better care to more people around the world at a lower cost. In addition, we partner with healthcare leaders, striving to leverage the global policy change necessary to implement a successful shift to sustainable healthcare systems.
Our "healthymagination" vision for the future invites the world to join us on our journey as we continuously develop innovations focused on reducing costs, increasing access and improving quality and efficiency around the world. Headquartered in the United Kingdom, GE Healthcare is a $17 billion unit of General Electric Company (NYSE: GE). Worldwide, GE Healthcare employs more than 46,000 people committed to serving healthcare professionals and their patients in more than 100 countries. For more information about GE Healthcare, visit our website at www.gehealthcare.com.
