CHICAGO and PITTSBURGH, Sept. 14 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ — Allscripts , the leading provider of clinical software, connectivity and information solutions that physicians use to improve healthcare, announced today that West Penn Allegheny Health System (WPAHS) has selected Allscripts as its Electronic Health Record (EHR) provider for its primary care network.
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Comprised of some of the oldest and best-known names in health care in western Pennsylvania, WPAHS includes two tertiary and four community hospitals with a total of more than 2,000 beds. Allegheny General Hospital serves as the Pittsburgh clinical campus for the Drexel University College of Medicine in Philadelphia, and The Western Pennsylvania Hospital serves as the clinical campus for Temple University School of Medicine in Philadelphia. The health system, which admits more than 80,000 patients into its hospitals each year, also owns a primary care network of 36 physician practices employing 165 physicians who will receive the Electronic Health Record.
“We selected Allscripts first as our e-prescribing vendor, but it soon became clear to us that the full electronic health record would have a profound impact on improving the quality of care and reducing expenses for our physicians in the primary care network,” said Nick Valadja, Vice President of Information Systems for West Penn Allegheny Health System. “Allscripts will provide an electronic dialogue among all the members of a patient’s care team no matter their location, and help to deliver truly integrated patient care.”
The Electronic Health Record brings WPAHS physicians instant access to patient information when and where they need it — at the hospital, in their offices or while on-call at home. Allscripts automates everyday clinical tasks such as prescribing and refilling medications, ordering and reviewing tests, and documenting patient care, while making the process more efficient and safer than ever before. An easy-to-use and customizable solution, the Electronic Health Record features robust clinical tools that support safe medical practices, including health maintenance alerts, clinical decision support, and automated drug safety checking.
“Our experience with West Penn demonstrates how electronic prescribing, the first application they started with, can serve as an on-ramp to the electronic healthcare highway and lead to the adoption of a comprehensive Electronic Health Record,” said Glen Tullman, Chief Executive Officer of Allscripts. “West Penn’s commitment to connect 36 separate physician practices, two tertiary and four community hospitals and their two clinical campus locations demonstrates their vision of moving toward an interconnected healthcare system, something we believe is not only compelling but necessary to advance our national healthcare system. We applaud their leadership.”
In addition to providing the core Electronic Health Record to its primary care physicians, WPAHS will provide view-only access to key parts of the Electronic Health Record for all employed caregivers in the system’s hospitals. That functionality ensures that hospital caregivers will have access to the medication history, problems, allergies and other critical information about patients admitted to the hospital from the primary care group.
The health system will integrate Allscripts with IDX/GE’s Centricity Business, the practice management system used by its employed physicians. Linking the clinical and financial information systems will help WPAHS’s physician practices become more productive while improving service to patients.
About West Penn Allegheny Health System
West Penn Allegheny Health System includes Allegheny General Hospital and The Western Pennsylvania Hospital, both in Pittsburgh; Alle-Kiski Medical Center in Natrona Heights; Canonsburg General Hospital in Canonsburg; The Western Pennsylvania Hospital — Forbes Regional Campus in Monroeville; and AGH-Suburban Campus in Bellevue. Offering a comprehensive range of medical and surgical services, the hospitals serve Pittsburgh and the surrounding five- state area, house more than 2,000 beds and employ more than 13,000 people. Together, the WPAHS hospitals admit more than 80,000 patients each year, log in excess of 173,000 emergency visits and deliver nearly 6,000 newborns. Combined, the hospitals are among the leaders in percentages of total surgeries, cardiac surgeries, neurosurgeries and cardiac catheterization procedures performed throughout the region.
West Penn Allegheny Health System hospitals have won — and continue to win — both national and international recognition for their programs in numerous specialty areas. Supporting both a charitable and an academic mission, WPAHS has a strong commitment to medical research and education and is also dedicated to training future generations of health-care professionals. For more information, visit http://www.wpahs.org/.
About Allscripts
Allscripts is the leading provider of clinical software, connectivity and information solutions that physicians use to improve healthcare. The Company’s business units provide unique solutions that inform, connect and transform healthcare. Allscripts award-winning software applications include Electronic Health Records, practice management, e-prescribing, document imaging, emergency department, and care management solutions, all offered through the Company’s Clinical Solutions units. Additionally, Allscripts provides clinical product education and connectivity solutions for physicians and patients through its Physicians Interactive(TM) unit, and medication fulfillment services through its Medication Services unit. To learn more, visit Allscripts on the Web at http://www.allscripts.com/.
This announcement may contain forward-looking statements about Allscripts Healthcare Solutions that involve risks and uncertainties. These statements are developed by combining currently available information with Allscripts beliefs and assumptions. Forward-looking statements do not guarantee future performance. Because Allscripts cannot predict all of the risks and uncertainties that may affect it, or control the ones it does predict, Allscripts’ actual results may be materially different from the results expressed in its forward-looking statements. For a more complete discussion of the risks, uncertainties and assumptions that may affect Allscripts, see the Company’s 2006 Annual Report on Form 10-K, available through the Web site maintained by the Securities and Exchange Commission at http://www.sec.gov/.
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Allscripts
CONTACT: Dan Michelson, Chief Marketing Officer, +1-312-506-1217,[email protected], or Todd Stein, Senior Manager-Public Relations,+1-312-506-1216, [email protected], both of Allscripts; or ThomasChakurda, Vice President, Communications and Marketing of West Penn AlleghenyHealth System, +1-412-359-6896, [email protected]
Web site: http://www.allscripts.com/http://www.wpahs.org/
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