ORLANDO, FL – Spurred by a multi-million-dollar investment from the Center for Community Health Leadership, healthcare providers in New Haven, Conn. and Tampa, Fla. are taking the first steps toward establishing an interconnected healthcare community.
Whether there’s a return on that investment remains to be seen.
In New Haven, the Hospital of Saint Raphael is implementing electronic medical record and practice management suites, which the hospital will host in ASP form for other healthcare providers in the community. In Tampa, roughly 90 independent physician practices have applied to take part in the data-sharing project, which is still very much in its infancy.
The Center for Community Health Leadership, sponsored by Raleigh, N.C.-based Misys Healthcare, launched its $10 million project in 2006, seeking to bestow EHR software and services on targeted communities in an effort to promote interoperability. New Haven was selected from dozens of applicants in early 2007, and Tampa made it through the second round of applications last November. The center is now seeking applications for a third grant recipient.
“It’ll be interesting to see what applications come in,” said Leigh Burchell, the center’s director, during an inteview this past February at HIMSS08 in Orlando. “I’ve been pleasantly surprised by the number of communities that want to do this.”
Misys officials say the donation of EHR software eliminates the barrier most often cited by physicians in not going digital – the cost is too prohibitive. They hope that by making the software available, physicians and other healthcare providers will be spurred to join the project, ultimately sharing information with other providers and benefiting from workflow efficiencies.
“The grant is the catalyst,” said Gary R. Davidson, vice president and chief information officer at the Hospital of Saint Raphael. “The grant really gets people in the community to say, ‘You know what, I’m going to do it.’ Otherwise, you see a lot of physicians out there who don’t necessarily want to change what they’re doing.”
Davidson adds that while his hospital is assuming the lead in the New Haven project, it won’t be shouldering all of the responsibility.
“We’re still looking to offer the ultimate sustaining model,” he said. “If this rolls out right, I see this as a much bigger community process.”
Burchell said she’s looking for a smaller, more rural community to be Misys’ third site, giving officials a new environment in which to test the benefits of interoperability. She said it’s still too early to determine if New Haven or Tampa will stand the test of time and prove to be self-sufficient, but she’s optimistic.
“Ultimately, what we’d like to show is, if an entire community is interconnected, then what happens?” she asked. “That’s a long-term investment. We want to make sure we’re investing $10 million in software and hardware in something that’s going to be around in five years.”
In related news, Misys officials say the company’s recently announced merger with Allscripts shouldn’t affect the Center for Community Health for the time being.
“As far as the center is concerned and really as all our business is concerned we’re operating under a business as usual perspective,” said Mike Holsinger, Misys’ director of communications. “Until the deal is closed, until all the appropriate regulatory bodies review and approve it, Misys has no reason to be doing business any differently. … As it relates to the center, no we don’t anticipate any immediate changes.”