SANTA ROSA, N.M. & CARLSBAD, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Medsphere Systems Corporation and Guadalupe County Hospital today announced that Guadalupe has received an initial reimbursement in excess of $1.5 million for meeting Meaningful Use Stage 1 requirements. Focused on moving American hospitals and clinics away from paper to interoperable electronic systems, Meaningful Use dollars will fully reimburse Guadalupe for the initial five-year costs of Medsphere’s OpenVista system, which is now empowering clinicians to improve patient care and clinical processes.
The smallest non critical-access hospital in the nation, Guadalupe is also representative of thousands of similar healthcare facilities nationwide that live close to the financial margins and still manage to provide crucial local healthcare services.
“Medsphere congratulates Guadalupe County Hospital on achieving Meaningful Use and working so diligently to improve patient care for the Santa Rosa community,” said Medsphere President and CEO Irv Lichtenwald. “Hospital CEO Christina Campos wears many hats and has infused the place with a can-do spirit that her entire staff has embraced. Meaningful Use qualification demonstrates the flexibility and affordability of OpenVista at a wide range of hospitals, and it speaks volumes about the team at Guadalupe.”
In qualifying for Meaningful Use, Guadalupe and Medsphere collaborated on essential training, workflow redesign and clinical transformation efforts. Moving forward, the hospital anticipates more financially manageable health IT operating expenses as all OpenVista upgrades, enhancements and support are included in Medsphere’s subscription-based pricing model.
“I could not be more proud of the clinicians and staff I work with here at Guadalupe County Hospital,” said Campos. “Their directed efforts and support for the project ensured our success, and their embrace of OpenVista in the hospital is making a tremendous difference. I’m very pleased that Guadalupe can serve as an example to similar facilities—comprehensive health IT is available to all hospitals, not only those with huge endowments in urban areas.”
Guadalupe joins other Medsphere hospital partners who have received federal stimulus funds. Earlier this year, Cooper Green Mercy Hospital (Birmingham, AL) and Beauregard Memorial Hospital (DeRidder, LA) received federal reimbursement sufficient to defray most of the five-year total licensing costs for the OpenVista EHR. New Jersey’s Meadowlands Hospital Medical Center (MHMC) also received an initial federal reimbursement large enough to cover the entire five-year cost of OpenVista.
In late 2011, California’s Kern Medical Center received more than $5 million from the federal government, with in excess of $11 million expected in total. Earlier, Texas’s Midland Memorial Hospital received $3.3 million of more than $7 million expected over the life of the Meaningful Use program. Hoboken University Medical Center, an MHMC neighbor, last year received about $3 million of an estimated $8 million in total federal reimbursement.
About Guadalupe County Hospital
Guadalupe County Hospital is a general medical facility providing adult and pediatric care. With a full-time staff of 45, including administrative staff, this 10-bed acute care hospital handles roughly 250 admissions and 2,500 emergency room visits per year. Located in Santa Rosa, N.M., 117 miles east of Albuquerque on Interstate 40, Guadalupe serves the entire county of fewer than 4700 people.
About Medsphere and OpenVista
Founded in 2002 and based in Carlsbad, Calif., Medsphere Systems Corporation is an award-winning organization of clinical and technology professionals working to make quality health IT solutions accessible to organizations of virtually any size, shape or budget. Medsphere’s OpenVista is a portfolio of clinical support products and professional services that leverages an electronic health record (EHR) system developed by the Department of Veterans Affairs. This VistA EHR is widely credited with helping transform the VA into the nation's most efficient and clinically effective healthcare organization. OpenVista, the most fully commercialized VistA offspring, is a responsible reapplication of the VA’s $8.5 billion investment, which recent studies show have yielded $3.09 billion in benefits, primarily from the near elimination of medication administration issues and duplicate testing.
Medsphere’s subscription-based pricing model enables hospital, clinic and integrated delivery network customers to pay for OpenVista from their operating budget with no upfront costs or back-end balloon payments. Expert implementation and other services facilitate fluid and rapid transition to a paperless clinical environment focusing on best practices and evidence-based medicine in six to nine months. Medsphere also actively nurtures the Healthcare Open Source Ecosystem, a global community of customers, partners, developers and other online collaborators who drive OpenVista innovation, and provide a parallel development and support structure.
Learn more about Medsphere’s OpenVista at www.medsphere.com.