Federal nod on GE EMRs

US: Flint, Mich. Health System is expected to go-live with Centricity EMR by early 2010. Now GE healthcare, a provider of information technology systems across the globe, is announcing an agreement to provide healthcare information technology to one of the nation’s most impoverished areas.

The newly signed agreement, as per a press release, 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.1

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 anEMR.

“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.