NextGen Healthcare Information Systems, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Quality Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ: QSII) and a leading provider of ambulatory healthcare and connectivity solutions, today announced that during the last few months it has secured 12 new community health center contracts, validating the company’s continued leadership in the space.
As part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) approximately $851 million in funds will be granted to community health centers nationwide in order to help them better serve Americans. More than 650 health centers are expected to use these funds to purchase new equipment or health information technology (HIT) systems.
Federally qualified health centers (FQHCs) are community-based, patient-directed health centers that meet criteria under the Medicare and Medicaid programs of the Social Security Act. Their main source of funding comes from the Health Center Program outlined in section 330 of the Public Health Service Act. FQHCs provide comprehensive, high-quality medical, dental and mental health services to the uninsured, the under-insured and in medically underserved areas.
One of the new contracts is with the Heartland Community Health Network, a Health Center-Controlled Network (HCCN) formed to provide IT support to community health centers in Iowa and Nebraska. Led by current NextGen Healthcare client One World CHC, Heartland selected the NextGen Electronic Health Record (EHR) product as its exclusive EHR offering.
“Based on our experience, we feel that NextGen EHR provides the flexibility and functionality needed to meet the unique needs of health centers,” said Joel Dougherty, COO for One World CHC. “We’ve been particularly impressed with the out-of-the-box content and training support.”
NextGen Healthcare also continues to build its presence in the California community health center market with the addition of three new clients. The company recently secured contracts with Northeastern Health Center, South Bay Family Healthcare and East Valley Community Health Center. East Valley, a FQHC that provides care to low-income and underserved populations in Southern California, selected the NextGen Enterprise Practice Management (EPM) and NextGen EHR products to help improve workflow and efficiency.
“Our previous practice management system provided very limited functionality so, after conducting a comprehensive readiness assessment, the decision was made to go with NextGen Healthcare and its integrated technology platform,” said Jim Elliot, director of operations for East Valley Community Health Center. “In addition to helping improve our overall operational efficiency, we believe the platform provides the enhanced reporting capabilities needed to meet national, state and county requirements.”
NextGen Healthcare, which has served community health centers for more than a decade, currently provides integrated EHR and practice management systems and dental record software to more than 250 community health center clients in 39 states, as well as the U.S. Virgin Islands.
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