Dedicated to keeping area physicians ahead of the curve, Marquette General Health System (MGHS) will work with McKesson to deploy electronic health record (EHR) technology designed to help improve patient care throughout Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. The region’s only tertiary care provider plans to use McKesson’s Practice Partner® EHR, which integrates with the McKesson Paragon® hospital information system (HIS) currently supporting Marquette General Hospital and its 30 owned physician practices.
“McKesson has a clear understanding of the legislative and stimulus processes as well as the financial strength to fuel the R&D that helps providers like us experience long-term success”
Beginning this spring, 140 MGHS-employed physicians, practitioners and therapists will become licensed users of Practice Partner. They will be authorized to access and update patient records electronically within the new, centralized system based at Marquette General Hospital. Dozens of independent affiliate practices also are expected to adopt the solution, as part of an overall plan to improve patient safety by eliminating paper-based documentation. By putting EHRs in place, office-based physicians also may qualify for incentives offered through the federal government’s economic stimulus plan.
“McKesson provides the tools and the smooth integration path we need to move Marquette General and Michigan’s Upper Peninsula region into the 21st century of patient care,” explained Dave Graser, senior vice president and chief operating officer for MGHS. “Practice Partner is enabling us to build on our Paragon HIS investment with a user-friendly EHR solution that our physicians prefer and trust.”
Marquette physician practices will have up-to-the-minute patient information at their fingertips. Inpatient and outpatient records, complete with detailed exam notes, will be available on demand wherever a patient shows up for an appointment in the system. Using Bright Note Technology™, featured in the Practice Partner EHR, area physicians will be able to capture patient data in a single note and automatically synchronize the information throughout the patient chart.
“McKesson has a clear understanding of the legislative and stimulus processes as well as the financial strength to fuel the R&D that helps providers like us experience long-term success,” said Graser, citing some of the key reasons behind the McKesson selection. “In the end, this agreement is all about doing the right thing by providing our patients with unprecedented continuity of care throughout Upper Michigan.”
“McKesson’s hospital and physician practice solutions offer a winning combination for Marquette General and a growing number of healthcare providers across the country,” explained David Henriksen, senior vice president and general manager of Physician Practice Solutions for McKesson. “Anywhere, anytime access to complete patient health records will open the door to a whole new level of productivity and patient care for the people of Michigan’s Upper Peninsula.”
Paragon recently achieved the “Best in KLAS” ranking for Community HIS in the 2009 Top 20 Best in KLAS Awards: Software & Professional Services report for the fourth consecutive year. The Practice Partner solution is part of McKesson’s full suite of productivity solutions designed to help physicians improve patient care. McKesson’s offerings include clinical and EHR software as well as business management and revenue management systems. The company also provides connectivity platforms for health information exchange, as well as medical-surgical equipment and supplies.
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