Union General Hospital, Inc. (UGH) has selected Cerner to implement an integrated electronic health record (EHR) and revenue cycle management system across its acute and ambulatory facilities. UGH will leverage the Cerner CommunityWorks deployment and support model, a prescriptive and cloud-based IT platform tailored to support community health care organizations that provide care to rural communities.
“After comparing Cerner with multiple electronic health records, it was an easy choice for us,” said Michael Gay, chief operating officer, UGH. “We own two hospitals, two nursing homes and several clinics. Cerner allowed us the capability to house everything we wanted in one system, which was a huge draw for us. We found the Cerner staff to be upfront and honest in the entire process, and given the opportunity, we’d choose Cerner again.”
UGH is a nonprofit, 45-bed community hospital that has been providing comprehensive, easy-access medical care to Union County. UGH also operates Chatuge Regional Hospital, a 25-bed critical access hospital serving Towns County, Georgia, and Clay County, North Carolina. UGH also operates two 130-bed nursing facilities and nine clinics with 15 providers, with more than 60 affiliated providers in its physician community.
UGH will transition to the Cerner Millennium® EHR, an IT platform that provides physicians with an integrated digital record of a patient’s health history, including clinical and financial data. Through the new online patient portal, patients will be able to securely message physicians, schedule appointments and easily access their health history.
“We are so excited about our decision to go with Cerner. As the CNO, I especially look forward to the improvements I know we will have in patient care and patient safety,” said Julia Barnett, chief nursing officer, UGH. “For example, the automated sepsis notification will be a huge improvement over our current manual process. The improvement in communication between all of our facilities and clinics will also help enhance patient care as we will be able to see each other’s records within one combined patient record. We also look forward to the improvements in efficiency with having solutions for every service line all within Cerner.”
The solution’s interoperability capabilities support the transfer of patient data between health systems across the country. Interoperability functionality provides physicians with a comprehensive view of a patient’s full health history, regardless of where care is delivered, which helps physicians make more informed care decisions.
“Our solutions connect our clients to the rest of the health care world, while allowing them to maintain their unique identity,” said Michael Farrell, vice president, CommunityWorks, Cerner. “We look forward to working with UGH to provide solutions that support its clinicians in improving health outcomes for their community.”
The Cerner Millennium EHR and revenue cycle management solutions integrate clinical and financial information into one patient record. Cerner’s Clinically Driven Revenue Cycle™ is designed to provide clinicians and staff with the resources to update the billing process throughout the patient’s visit, enhance clinical documentation to help improve reimbursement and limit claims errors. Patients will benefit by having a streamlined financial experience.
“Throughout the entire sales and decision-making process, Cerner has displayed professionalism, knowledge and awareness of our complex health care environment parallel to understanding our local community’s needs,” said Nick Townsend, chief financial officer, UGH. “By working with Cerner, we’ll create a path to success by providing a seamless health care network across our region.”
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