September 14, 2007 – Clinical software provider Allscripts said West Penn Allegheny Health System selected Allscripts as its electronic health record (EHR) provider for its primary care network.
Comprised of some of the oldest and best-known names in health care in western Pennsylvania, WPAHS includes two tertiary and four community hospitals with a total of more than 2,000 beds. Allegheny General Hospital serves as the Pittsburgh clinical campus for the Drexel University College of Medicine in Philadelphia, and the Western Pennsylvania Hospital serves as the clinical campus for Temple University School of Medicine in Philadelphia. The health system, which admits more than 80,000 patients into its hospitals each year, also owns a primary care network of 36 physician practices employing 165 physicians who will receive the EHR.
“We selected Allscripts first as our e-prescribing vendor, but it soon became clear to us that the full electronic health record would have a profound impact on improving the quality of care and reducing expenses for our physicians in the primary care network,” said Nick Valadja, vice president of information systems for West Penn Allegheny Health System. “Allscripts will provide an electronic dialogue among all the members of a patient’s care team no matter their location, and help to deliver truly integrated patient care.”
The Electronic Health Record brings WPAHS physicians instant access to patient information when and where they need it - at the hospital, in their offices or while on-call at home. Allscripts automates everyday clinical tasks, such as prescribing and refilling medications, ordering and reviewing tests, and documenting patient care, while making the process more efficient and safer.
In addition to providing the core EHR to its primary care physicians, WPAHS will provide view-only access to key parts of the EHR for all employed caregivers in the system’s hospitals. That functionality ensures hospital caregivers will have access to the medication history, problems, allergies and other critical information about patients admitted to the hospital from the primary care group.
The health system will integrate Allscripts with IDX/GE's Centricity Business, the practice management system used by its employed physicians.
For more information: www.allscripts.com, www.wpahs.org