Harrington receives monies to implement electronic medical records

$600,000 from federal Medicaid Electronic Health Record Incentives

SOUTHBRIDGE, Mass., February 13, 2012 – Harrington HealthCare System has received $599,476 in federal Medicaid Electronic Health Record (EHR) Incentive payments. Harrington, which is among the top 4.4 percent of all hospital systems in the country in electronic medical record adoption, is one of 15 hospitals and 12 eligible health care professionals in Massachusetts to receive some monies.

Harrington has already begun the process of converting paper records to electronic medical records, said Harrington President and CEO Edward H. Moore. “We recognized the need to provide physician order entry, or computerized provider order entry in order to provide a safer environment for our patients,” Moore said. “It’s part of a broader strategic information technology plan to become electronic and integrate data between the hospital, physicians and the community.”

Harrington received Stage 6 recognition this past summer for its implementation of Electronic Medical Record (EMR) Adoption ModelSM (EMRAM) - putting it among the top 4.4 percent of hospital systems nationwide (one of only 236 hospitals out of 5,310) to rise to this prestigious level. HIMSS (Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society) Analytics developed the EMR Adoption Model in 2005 as a methodology for evaluating the progress and impact of electronic medical record systems for hospitals in the HIMSS AnalyticsTM Database.

The benefits of transferring Harrington's processes from paper to computer are tremendous. Not only does the electronic system increase patient safety but it also offers a more organized and efficient workflow for the hospital staff, Moore said. Stage 6 means Harrington is close to no longer using any paper charts to deliver and manage patient care. This dramatically increases the availability of patient information, as it can be accessed from anywhere in the hospital by multiple users at the same time. “Harrington has been working to upgrade our Meditech system to allow for a paperless electronic record on our inpatient floors,” Moore said. “That allows the provider to order testing electronically and receive results all through the Meditech system.”

HARRINGTON HEALTHCARE SYSTEM, www.harringtonhospital.org, is a comprehensive regional healthcare system serving the needs of Southern Worcester County and Northern Connecticut.