Today Exeter Hospital and its affiliated multi-specialty group practice, Core Physicians, announced its recent completion of the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services’ (CMS) Stage One Meaningful Use (MU) Certification for Electronic Health Records (EHR).
Key highlights from the announcement include:
• Exeter and Core Physicians successfully established 88 providers to MU
• This New Hampshire hospital is the largest NextGen Client to achieve this milestone
• This forward-thinking community-based hospital and affiliated group practice had set internal IT goals years before MU came into fruition, and yet these internal standards ultimately matched up with MU standards
• In addition to recently receiving its first CMS EHR incentive payments, Exeter Hospital is also a sub-recipient of funds from the Regional Extension Center of New Hampshire (RECNH).
Forward-thinking New Hampshire Community-based Hospital and Affiliated Multi-Specialty Group Practice Embrace Meaningful Use as Natural Extension of Existing Quality Initiatives
Exeter, NH, December 5, 2011 — Exeter Hospital and its affiliated multi-specialty group practice, Core Physicians, recently completed the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services’ (CMS) Stage One Meaningful Use (MU) Certification for Electronic Health Records (EHR). As the largest NextGen client to achieve this milestone, Exeter Hospital and Core Physicians successfully established 88 providers to MU.
To help bring higher quality and safer care to patients through broader adoption of EHRs, the ARRA HITECH Act of 2009 provided financial incentives to hospitals and providers who become “meaningful users” of EHRs. Prior to the announcement of MU incentives, Exeter Hospital and Core Physicians had already internally set clinical goals that ultimately came to fall under MU standards. With its forward-thinking philosophy and achievement of Stage One MU criteria, Exeter Hospital and Core Physicians not only stand as leaders in the state, but also among the first healthcare providers nationally to demonstrate that they are using certified EHR technology in ways to improve clinical quality.
“Successfully achieving Stage One is not only a significant milestone for Exeter Hospital and Core Physicians, but it is also an excellent validation of the work we have been doing and internal standards we set years ago before MU came into fruition,” said Sean O’Neil, Vice President of Organizational Excellence with Core Physicians. “Patient safety and quality of care have always been the foundation of our strategic platform and we have long believed in the ability of technology to help providers practice better medicine and to provide better care.”
In addition to recently receiving its first CMS EHR incentive payments, Exeter Hospital is also a sub-recipient of funds from the Regional Extension Center of New Hampshire (RECNH).
“Exeter Hospital and its multi-specialty group practice, Core Physicians, are true leaders in the New Hampshire healthcare community. The fact that the internal health IT goals set years ago ultimately matched the MU standards is a real testament to the innovative thinking and quality patient care offered through Exeter Hospital and Core Physicians,” said Jeff Loughlin, Executive Director, RECNH. “The REC of NH is proud to offer these organizations financial assistance as it furthers its long-standing health IT goals.”
“The primary reason we are so far ahead of many other organizations of our size in the country is because of our clinicians, providers, practice managers, Information Services team and support staff,” said David Briden, Chief Information Officer for Exeter Health Resources, parent company of Exeter Hospital and Core Physicians. “MU is core to our mission and because of the staff’s efforts, along with the vision and support of our senior leaders and board members, we are in this favorable position. The additional support and funding from CMS and the RECNH has helped justify and expedite our IT progress, while leveraging EHR technology has allowed us to do things we never would have been able to do in a paper world. As a result, we are able to know our patients better and make knowledgeable, quicker clinical decisions that ultimately help lead to safer and better quality care.”
Moving forward, Exeter Hospital and Core Physicians are working to improve interoperability between neighboring healthcare providers like the Community Health Access Network (CHAN) and its affiliate Lamprey Health Care with a goal of seamless integration to ensure improved patient care across the entire Exeter region of New Hampshire.
About Exeter Hospital
Exeter Hospital is a community-based hospital that serves residents from 38 towns in New Hampshire’s Seacoast Region. The hospital’s mission is to improve the health of the communities it serves. For more information, visit exeterhospital.com or call (603) 580-6668.
About Core Physicians
Core Physicians is a community based, multi-specialty group practice affiliated with Exeter Hospital. Core Physicians fundamental mission is to improve the health of individuals and families in the communities it serves. For more information about Core Physicians visit corephysicians.org.
