Sep. 28, 2009 (PR Newswire) -- In the news release, North Shore-LIJ Health System Investing $400M to Connect Up to 7,000 Physicians, 13 Hospitals with Electronic Health Records System, issued 28-Sep-2009 by North Shore-Long Island Jewish Health System over PR Newswire, we are advised by the organization that the source line should have included the company Allscripts, rather than only North Shore-Long Island Jewish Health System, as originally issued inadvertently. In addition, a forward-looking statement from Allscripts should have been included in the release. The complete, corrected release follows:
North Shore-LIJ Health System Investing $400M to Connect Up to 7,000 Physicians, 13 Hospitals with Electronic Health Records System
With national focus on health reform, NY hospital system looks to improve quality and efficiency by subsidizing docs to enroll in NY area's largest automated medical record system
GREAT NECK, N.Y., Sept. 28 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The North Shore-LIJ Health System announced today it is subsidizing up to 85 percent of the cost of implementing and operating an Electronic Health Records (EHR) system in the offices of its more than 7,000 affiliated physicians in New York City and Long Island -- part of a $400 million investment to strengthen the quality of care throughout the region by automating inpatient and outpatient records in all medical settings, including 13 hospitals. In implementing the largest EHR program in the New York metropolitan area and one of the largest in the nation, North Shore-LIJ will provide physicians with individual subsidies of up to $40,000 over five years.
The North Shore-LIJ Electronic Health Record, powered by Allscripts (NASDAQ: MDRX), will be deployed this fall as part of a bold effort to drive unprecedented improvements in the efficiency and quality of care throughout the region. Embedded within the EHR are automated care guides that will help improve clinical care, prevent illness, and avoid medical and drug errors.
"While the Obama administration and Congressional leaders are still negotiating a comprehensive bill, the essence of real health reform is going to happen at the local level by optimizing technology and involving physicians who are directly involved in delivering care to the communities we serve," said Michael J. Dowling, president and chief executive officer (CEO) of the North Shore-LIJ Health System. "We're not going to measure our return-on-investment (ROI) in terms of dollars and cents; our ROI will be based on our ability to improve patient outcomes." As the federal government continues to move toward a system in which provider payments are based on performance, Mr. Dowling said, the financial subsidies tied to the EHR will assist North Shore-LIJ physicians in providing patients with a full continuum of care, addressing all chronic conditions through evidence-based treatment protocols.
North Shore-LIJ will subsidize either 50 percent or 85 percent of each physician's implementation cost and monthly operational fees, with a maximum incentive of $40,000 over five years. "No comparably-sized hospital system in the country is providing this level of financial assistance to so many physicians to integrate an electronic health record," said Robert Williams, MD, director of Deloitte Healthcare Consulting. North Shore-LIJ is able to offer these incentives to doctors because of recent exceptions made to the federal Stark Law, which previously prohibited hospitals from entering into financial arrangements with private physician practices.
In addition to the subsidies they receive from North Shore-LIJ, physicians may be eligible for up to $44,000 in Medicare incentives over five years as part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.
Physicians who receive the 85 percent subsidy from North Shore-LIJ will agree to use the EHR to report and share their performance data, allowing them to compare it against a set of nationally recognized measures for superior care and outcomes.
