FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                 CONTACT: Bonnie Caprara

Jan. 12, 2010                                                                        (586) 899-5718

                                                                        bcaprara@changescapeinc.com

CHANGESCAPE OFFERS PHYSICAN IT CONSULTING PRACTICE TO ASSIST IN ELECTRONIC HEALTH RECORD IMPLEMENTATION

Birmingham-based health care management advisory firm ChangeScape, Inc. has added a physician IT consulting practice to assist physician practices to select and implement electronic health record (EHR) systems.

 “The Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act and the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) are making it possible for physician practices to receive up to 75 percent of the cost of purchasing and implementing EHRs,” ChangeScape President and CEO Mindy Richards said. “Changing from a paper-based system to an electronic system will call for drastic shifts in the ways physicians and their staff will practice medicine and service patients, not to mention meeting the meaningful use guidelines they must follow to become eligible for federal grants.”

ChangeScape had received recognition throughout the State of Michigan and the United States for its work in developing business and technical plans for a proposed health information exchange (HIE) to connect health care providers in Southwest Michigan in 2008-10. As part of that work, ChangeScape conducted a survey of physician practices in July 2009 to determine EHR use and interest in the region. The survey found that 122 of 302 (40 percent) of the physician practices that responded to survey were using EHRs. Of the 60 percent, or 180, of physician practices that were not using EHRs, 13 percent indicated they planned to in the next 18 months.

“However, many of the practices that employ EHRs only do so in one area, such as e-prescribing or medication management, which may not meet all of the qualifications of meaningful use,” Richards said. “Plus, those who do not implement EHRs by 2015 will be penalized with decreased Medicare reimbursements.”

ChangeScape utilizes the meaningful use guidelines and its work with the State of Michigan and the Southwest Michigan Health Information Exchange as guideposts for customized strategies for the physician practices.  It does not sell hardware or software but provides the blueprints for the most appropriate configuration and works with physicians and their teams to determine the most appropriate solution set for their current and future practice needs.

So far, 36 physician practices have called upon ChangeScape for assistance.

"The decision to employ EHRs is not an ‘if,’ it’s a ‘how soon?’” Richards said.

For more information about ChangeScape, visit www.changescapeinc.com.

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