NextGen Healthcare announces partnership with Wills Eye for meaningful use

NextGen Healthcare Information Systems, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Quality Systems, Inc. and leading provider of healthcare information systems and connectivity solutions, today announced an agreement with Wills Eye Health System to deploy NextGen® Ambulatory EHR and NextGen® Practice Management.

“NextGen Healthcare's long-standing reputation as a leader in the ophthalmology industry was a critical factor in our IT decision. We were also impressed with the company's commitment to helping us achieve Meaningful Use.”

Considered one of the most advanced eye centers in the world, Wills Eye provides the full range of primary and subspecialty eye care, including cataract, cornea, retina and glaucoma treatment, neuro-ophthalmology, oculoplastics, ocular oncology, pediatric ophthalmology, refractive surgery, laser vision correction, diagnostics, low vision services, and emergency room coverage. Based in Philadelphia, Pa., Wills Eye also has a network of multi-specialty ambulatory surgery centers in the tri-state region.

Through this partnership, the NextGen® integrated technology platform will connect the Wills Eye community, giving care providers ubiquitous access to electronic health records and enabling exchange of patient data at the point of care. This level of documentation will help provide the organization with the clinical reporting capabilities needed to demonstrate Meaningful Use.

"Wills Eye was a specialty institution from inception, so we needed a technology partner that could truly understand and support our ophthalmology-specific needs," said Joseph Bilson, executive director of Wills Eye. "NextGen Healthcare's long-standing reputation as a leader in the ophthalmology industry was a critical factor in our IT decision. We were also impressed with the company's commitment to helping us achieve Meaningful Use."

NextGen Ambulatory EHR features exclusive ophthalmology content, including pre-built clinical templates and workflow, to ensure complete, accurate documentation stored in a standard format. Its disease management templates enable practices to capture discrete data at the point of care - a crucial component to qualifying for pay-for-performance programs.

NextGen Practice Management provides reporting capabilities that can be leveraged to track quality improvement measures, a key Meaningful Use requirement. The solution also enables users to optimize reimbursement by automatically comparing fee schedules between allowable codes and patient charge history so they can code and bill for the highest appropriate level of exam, such as comprehensive eye.

"Adding a nationally recognized ophthalmology institution to our client base is further confirmation of our ongoing commitment to this important market," said Scott Decker, President of NextGen Healthcare. "We look forward to a partnership built upon long-term clinical and financial success and the establishment of a patient-centered care model that sets the standard for other ophthalmology groups to follow."