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OMHS announces partnership with emergency medical staffing firm CEP America

OWENSBORO, KY – (July 18, 2011) Owensboro Medical Health System hospital has entered a partnership with CEP America, a provider of emergency department management and staffing solutions. CEP America began physician group management for OMHS on July 1.

OMHS and emergency department physicians who practice with the Emergency Physician Group, PSC, worked together to select CEP as a leader through an extensive request for proposal process and multiple on-site meetings. CEP America’s consistently high rankings on national performance measures in clinical, operational, and service excellence made it the ideal choice for OMHS.

“Bringing CEP into our patient care team will strengthen our emergency department services and equip us to continue serving our growing patient base as we transition to the new hospital in 2013,” said Jeff Barber, president and CEO. “We chose to work with CEP America because we feel that they are committed to achieving our goals and have a culture that is closely aligned with ours.”

Patients will benefit from CEP’s Rapid Medical Evaluation® program, designed to reduce waiting time and ensure that patients receive treatment as quickly as possible. The OMHS emergency department will also have the advantage of CEP America’s expertise in physician recruitment and leadership, clinical and service excellence, compliance and risk management, and adoption of electronic medical records.

CEP America provides emergency department staffing for hospitals in eight states across the country and is home to more than 1,500 emergency medicine providers. 

Owensboro Medical Health System serves an 11-county region in western Kentucky and southern Indiana. The hospital has received awards for clinical excellence (2009, 2010, 2011), patient safety (2010) and outstanding patient experience (2010) from HealthGrades, placing it among the top five percent of hospitals in the nation for quality (OMHS is one of only 16 hospitals in the nation to receive all the three honors in 2010).

Cooperative Health Services, an affiliate of OMHS, also operates the HealthPark—a medical-based fitness center—and a number of clinics and diagnostic centers in Beaver Dam and Madisonville (KY) and Tell City (IN) as well as The Clinic at Wal-Mart in Owensboro, Henderson (KY) and Newburgh (IN).

Selecting EMR Software – The RFP Process

ChartZoom provides the basic RFP form above, which allows clinics to get introductory information. What vendors can meet their needs, what is the price range to expect. Beyond this, it is critical for the organization to establish criteria for selection. Staff representing the front desk, billing, scheduling, and by all means, provider champions, should be a part of the EMR evaluation process from early stages through the final decision.

Electronic medical record systems have many commonalities, and are often presented as completely flexible. The potential client may be told that the system is so flexible, you will be able to build the perfect system with the right customization. But how easy is the customization? How much time will providers want to spend building their own forms? How do the EMR software upgrades and reports handle a variety of form designs?

It’s important to press the potential EMR vendors to show working models. Walk through through your current workflows, and press them to demonstrate how those workflows will translate in their system. Require a site visit with another customer in the same specialty.

While many articles on ChartZoom are dedicated to the evaluation process, keep in mind that clinic will set the requirements for the system. There are hundreds of EMR vendors and many will have solutions that could work for you. Go beyond “We’re so customizable, we’re the perfect solution for anyone” and make them work to prove the viability of their systems. Start here with the form below to identify various EMR companies that serve your location and specialty, and collect initial system information and pricing.

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