HIMSS Analytics recognized 51 clinics of Northeast Georgia Physicians Group with the Stage 7 Ambulatory Award.
NGPG becomes the sixth system in the country to receive the award, which represents attainment of the highest level on the HIMSS Analytics Electronic Medical Record Adoption Model, which is used to track EMR progress at hospitals and health systems, and more recently in the ambulatory care setting.
Developed in 2011, the EMR Ambulatory Adoption Model provides a methodology for evaluating the progress and impact of electronic medical record systems for ambulatory facilities owned by hospitals in the HIMSS Analytics Database.
[See also: Novant ROI 'rock solid' for Stage 7.]
NGPG is one of the largest multispecialty groups in north Georgia and benefits from its integration with Northeast Georgia Health System, which serves more than 800,000 people in more than 13 counties across the region.
Stage 7 represents the highest level of EMR adoption and indicates a health system's advanced electronic patient record environment.
During the third quarter of 2013, only 1.23 percent of the more than 20,000 U.S. ambulatory clinics in the HIMSS Analytics Database received the Stage 7 Ambulatory Award.
"Our use of information technology systems allows us to provide enhanced patient care and positively impact the health of our community," Sherry Dorsey, president and chief administrative officer of NGPG, said in a news release. "The HIMSS Ambulatory EMRAM model provides a framework to support our implementation strategy as well as a tool to validate our readiness to respond to health care reform changes and support care delivery enhancement efforts."
[See also: Bon Secours physicians achieve Stage 7 and NorthShore clinics first to Stage 7.]
"NGPG has demonstrated the intrinsic value of an EMR with their strong, multi-vendor data analytics program that provides predictive alerting, care gaps to be addressed during each encounter, population health analytics," said John P. Hoyt, executive vice president, HIMSS Analytics, in a statement. "Their regional leadership in a multi-provider and multi-vendor HIE is truly industry leading. This HIE is serving patient care by obtaining data and images from encounters outside of their immediate network for a very comprehensive view of the patient health. The medical practices are truly paperless and are position to succeed in the new era of risk sharing agreements."
