Monroe's Mercy Signs IT Deal With Allscripts

Mercy Memorial Hospital System, a 238-bed community hospital located in Monroe, selected Chicago-based Allscripts (Nasdaq: MDRX) as its enterprise-wide health information technology provider, enabling the hospital, its 200 staff physicians, and post-acute providers to connect and collaborate for a team approach to improving patient care.

Mercy Memorial's implementation will include a full spectrum of Allscripts clinical solutions for the acute, ambulatory and post-acute markets:

* The Allscripts Sunrise Enterprise 5.5 integrated suite of solutions, providing a comprehensive acute care Electronic Health Record including the market-leading Allscripts computerized physician order entry solution and extended functionality designed specifically to help healthcare organizations meet the "meaningful use" requirements of the American Reinvestment and Recovery Act of 2009, as well as to achieve Stage 7 in the HIMSS Analytics EHR Adoption Model. Sunrise Enterprise includes Helios by Allscripts, an open architecture platform designed to promote enhanced exchange of data between disparate software systems while lowering total cost of ownership.
* The Allscripts EHR and practice management  solution for Mercy Memorial's employed and affiliated physicians, delivered by Mercy Memorial over the Internet in a software as a service model, freeing physicians in smaller practices from the need to manage software and hardware issues and allowing for a faster implementation. Allscripts will connect physicians to the hospital, providing emergency department discharge summaries, lab and radiology test results and other information critical to staying informed about their patients.
* The Allscripts Care Management discharge planning solution to streamline patient movement through the hospital and provide continuity of care following discharge to the post-acute care setting and the patient's home. The Allscripts solution will enable Mercy Memorial's case managers to automate the process of safely discharging patients to the most appropriate care setting for rehabilitation or long-term care, including Mercy Memorial's Nursing Center, HomeCare Connection, Home Respiratory Care and Hospice of Monroe.

Said Annette Phillips, president and CEO of Mercy Memorial Hospital System: "The Allscripts technology will integrate patient care and communication processes across our hospital system which will further enhance the quality, safety and service provided by our caregivers."

Mercy Memorial CIO Bruce Kelly said the hospital selected Allscripts after an exhaustive, year-long review based on the ability of Allscripts to deliver a complete enterprise health information solution connecting providers and other healthcare professionals across every one of Mercy Memorial's care settings. The final decision came in September, shortly after Allscripts announced its merger with Eclipsys Corp.

"The merger of Allscripts and Eclipsys represents the best of all worlds for our patients, with acute, ambulatory and post-acute solutions all coming together on one platform," said Kelly. "Our selection of Allscripts, which has the most utilized CPOE product for the hospital and the market-leading EHR and practice management solutions for ambulatory physicians, will help us execute on a key organizational strategy in developing an Accountable Care Organization with our staff physicians."

Founded in 1929, Mercy Memorial Hospital is a 238-bed, full-service community hospital that serves Monroe County as well as the eastern section of Lenawee County, southeast Wayne County and Northwest Ohio. As part of the Mercy Memorial Hospital System, the hospital is comprised of more than 200 physicians and is uniquely qualified to meet the healthcare needs of the region.  For more information, visit www.mercymemorial.org.

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