Cottage Hospital Achieves Stage 1 Meaningful Use Certification with EHR from Healthcare Management Systems

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (July 27, 2011)—Cottage Hospital, located in Woodsville, N.H., has met Stage 1 meaningful use criteria for Medicare with the certified electronic health record (EHR) from Healthcare Management Systems Inc.® (HMS).

With more than 70 percent of orders occurring electronically via computerized provider order entry (CPOE), Cottage Hospital easily eclipsed the Stage 1 minimum CPOE threshold of 30 percent. Cottage Hospital is the first critical access hospital in New England to achieve Stage 1 meaningful use and successfully attested just two days after a much larger provider.

Cottage Hospital attributes its rapid Stage 1 success to the facility’s long-term commitment to technology and teamwork, including the close partnership Cottage Hospital and HMS have developed and maintained for more than 10 years.

“Electronic health records have been front-and-center with us for years, and we brought together a team representing the entire hospital from clinical to business and even the board of trustees so that everyone could see that the EHR is about enhancing patient care,” said Gary Tomlinson, director of management information systems for Cottage Hospital. “Working with HMS has been a very pleasant experience. They provided us with the certified EHR, the tools, the reports and the resources we needed to make Stage 1 attestation.”

Cottage Hospital completed its 90-day attestation period on July 15 and received Stage 1 meaningful use certification the same day from the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS). The certified HMS EHR is 2011/2012 compliant in accordance with the criteria adopted by the Secretary of Health and Human Services.

Successful Stage 1 attestation means that Cottage Hospital is eligible for reimbursement under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA), but the hospital also expects ongoing and longer-term benefit from both its EHR strategy and its partnership with HMS.

“The EHR is key to eventually sharing information with other facilities and providers, which helps enhance patient care,” said Steven Plant, chief financial officer of Cottage Hospital. “HMS provided us with the platform and opportunity to succeed with Stage 1, and I’m not sure we could have gotten there with another vendor. HMS was a big part of Cottage Hospital getting to Stage 1.”

“We’re very proud to support Cottage Hospital’s EHR and meaningful use strategies,” said Tom Stephenson, president and chief executive officer of HMS. “Their dedication to teamwork, technology and high-quality clinical care creates tremendous benefits for patients.”

About HMS
Healthcare Management Systems Inc. (HMS) is a Nashville-based healthcare company that develops, sells and supports integrated clinical and financial hospital information systems and services designed to increase efficiency while improving patient safety. The HMS EHR is 2011/2012 compliant and has been certified by Drummond Group, an ONC-ATCB, in accordance with the applicable certification criteria adopted by the Secretary of Health and Human Services. Founded in 1984, HMS currently serves nearly 700 community hospitals; behavioral, rehabilitation and long-term acute-care facilities; and multi-entity healthcare organizations nationwide. For more information, please visit www.hmstn.com.

HMS is part of HealthTech Holdings Inc., a health information technology holding company that owns HMS, MEDHOST and Sentry Healthcare Services Inc. HealthTech Holdings’ mission is to acquire and manage technology companies focused on the creation of value for the healthcare industry. More information is available at www.healthtechholdings.com.

News media contact:
Tony Katsulos
Jetstream PR for HMS
katsulos@jetstreampr.com
972-788-9456, ext. 301