Integrated Medical Services, a not-for-profit physician services organization based in Arizona, is overhauling its electronic health record systems.
IMS will deploy new EHR, practice management and revenue cycle management systems from Chicago-based Allscripts-Misys Healthcare Solutions. The new systems will replace six legacy EHR systems and a number of practice management systems.
IMS officials made the decision to overhaul their systems in the anticipation of growing from 100 to 500 physicians by 2013. Officials say the technology will automate and enhance back-office functions like billing and scheduling and deliver real-time information to physicians to coordinate patient care across the IMS network.
"Our focus is on delivering high quality, truly coordinated care for our patients and to do that we need to give all of our providers quick, easy access to the same patient information, not handcuff them with disconnected software silos within their own offices," said John Dover, MD, president and chief executive officer of IMS. "Now that federal incentives for EHR use are in place, we anticipate that a lot of Arizona physicians will go looking for a safe, interconnected electronic health record supported by a dependable network of like-minded professionals. With Allscripts, we now have the capability to meet their needs."
IMS will provide Allscripts via the hosted Application Service Provider (ASP) delivery model.
"The hosted model is perfect for a geographically disbursed organization like IMS and will let us continue to grow while delivering the same great service for our patients and physicians," said Cindy Koelbl, director of professional services for IMS. "It also means we can very quickly bring our physicians up live on the system without investing in growing our IT infrastructure."
