RALEIGH, NC – The Center for Community Health Leadership, sponsored by Misys Healthcare Systems, has named Tampa Bay, Fla. as the recipient of $3 million worth of electronic health record software to assist local doctors and healthcare organizations in sharing information online.
The Tampa Bay grant is the second of its kind; earlier this year, the center bestowed a $3 million grant on New Haven, Conn., providing technology to create an electronic health record for the 22-county, 800,000-patient network.
Tampa Bay, one of more than 90 communities to apply for the grants, is home to some 3 million residents.
“Physicians in the Tampa Bay area realize that becoming a connected medical community is the first step toward reducing healthcare costs for local residents and employers and creating a higher standard of care,” said David Schlaifer, CEO and president of Doctors’ Administrative Solutions, LLC, which organized the bid for the grant.
Beginning last month, physician practices, hospitals and homecare agencies were able to fill out online forms to request software through the grant program. That software is provided to the center through a network of participating vendors. Implementation is set to begin in spring 2008.
“The goal of the center’s grant program is to support physicians by helping to turn the theory of a connected healthcare community into practice,” said Leigh Burchell, director of the Center for Community Leadership. “With this grant, we will provide the solutions and education needed to successfully replace the paper-based, resource-intensive process in existence today.”
According to Burchell, the center has completed the solution design process in New Haven and is now facilitating the sharing of lab results and images, starting with an initial group of physicians and the Hospital of Saint Raphael. He said the center is also working with physician practices to determine if they’re better suited for a hosted or client server access model.
Burchell said the center will follow a similar path in Tampa Bay, but expects a different outcome.
“The center’s program is specifically configured to allow each community to determine where the clinical relevance is in the establishment of the data exchange, and we will look to Tampa Bay healthcare professionals to lead us in the direction that offers the most value to the area,” he said, adding that several hospitals and physician practices, a large home care agency, a pharmacy chain and a laboratory company have expressed interest in the project.
The two grants are part of a $10 million program launched by Misys in late 2006 to drive development of health information exchanges and facilitate data sharing, one community at a time. Misys officials expect to announce a third grant recipient before the end of the year.