Grace Cottage Hospital Ranks Among Most Advanced EMR Hospitals
Townshend, VT — Grace Cottage Hospital has been named one of the most advanced
hospitals in the world for its use of comprehensive Electronic Medical Records (EMR), a
key factor in providing the safest, highest-quality patient care possible.
According to HIMSS Analytics, Grace Cottage Hospital is currently at “Stage 6” for
adoption of EMR. Only 397 of more than 5,300 hospitals in the United States have
achieved this status; Fletcher Allen Healthcare Center in Burlington is the only other
Vermont hospital that has reached Stage 6. HIMSS Analytics, a not-for profit subsidiary
of the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS) scores
hospitals based on their progress in completing eight stages (0-7) towards creating
paperless patient records.
“Becoming the second hospital in Vermont to earn this recognition is a significant
achievement,” said Grace Cottage Hospital CEO Mick Brant. “As the smallest hospital
in Vermont, Grace Cottage is committed to giving our health care providers the most
advanced tools available in order to provide our patients with the best possible care. Grace
Cottage is well known for having the highest overall patient satisfaction scores in the state
of Vermont and, in partnership with Cerner Corporation, we have spent the past two years
preparing for and implementing a facility-wide Electronic Medical Record system; this
was a $2.5 million investment that is funded by the American Recovery and Reinvestment
Act. The entire staff has worked very hard to make this happen, and achieving Stage 6 in
HIMSS Analytics is a major milestone in the 64-year history of this hospital, so all of our
employees deserve to be very proud of what they’ve accomplished for our patients. Now
we’ll work towards Stage 7!”
Founded in 1949, Grace Cottage Hospital is a Critical Access Hospital offering a
variety of health care services, including: a 19-bed hospital with a 24/7 emergency
department; an imaging department with digital X-ray, CT scanner, bone densitometer,
and ultrasound; a full-service lab; a rehab department with physical, occupational, and
speech therapy services for inpatient and outpatient treatment; an outpatient rural health
clinic with family practice doctors and a mental health department; a community wellness
center hosting a variety of classes; and a full-service pharmacy open to the public.
HIMSS states that its “Stage 6” designation indicates that a hospital:
- Has made significant executive commitments and investments to reach this stage;
- Appears to have a significant advantage over competitors for patient safety, clinician support, clinician recruitment, and competitive marketing for both consumers and nurse recruitment;
- Has almost fully automated/paperless medical records when implementing its information technology applications across most of the inpatient care cettings;
- Is either starting to evaluate data for care delivery rpocess improvements or has already documented significant improvements in this area
- Has made investments that are within reach of most hospitals and recognizes the strategic value of improving patient care with electronic medical records;
- Has begun to create strategic alignments with its medical staff to effectively utilize information technology to improve patient safety environment; and
- Is well positioned to provde data to key stakeholders, such as payors, the government, physicians, consumers, and employers, to suppport electronic health record environments and health information exchanges
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