WY Health System: Faulty System Sparked Cerner EHR Implementation

Wyoming-based Crook County Medical Services District (CCMSD) has decided to transition away from its existing EHR system and go live with a Cerner EHR implementation.

The board of trustees for CCMSD was tasked with finding a replacement EHR following several issues resulting in low clinician satisfaction, a lack of access to health information, billing issues, and increased administrative burden.

Some of the reported billing issues prompted the healthcare organization to triple its accounts receivable to around $3 million, officials stated at the board meeting.

The EHR vetting process was fully inclusive because the EHR system impacts “everyone from the top down,” lead committee member Wesley Davis, DNP, told the Sundance times.

After putting together a list of all the available EHR vendors, “We narrowed it down to three top contenders,” Davis said in a previous statement to the news outlet. “The committee then looked at specific challenges and reached out to the shortlisted companies to ask how their EMR would help to solve them.”

Following the most recent board session, the group of trustees entered into a contract with Cerner to advance patient safety, reduce clinician burden, and improve interoperability.

In the past, other healthcare organizations have recognized the importance of protecting patient safety and achieving interoperability through several features provided by Oracle Cerner.

Hugh Chatham Memorial Hospital recently signed a contract with Oracle Cerner to improve workflow efficiency, patient safety, and interoperability across networks.

“Pursuing an integrated, single architecture, and high-functioning health record system is essential in accelerating our journey toward becoming the nation’s best community healthcare system,” Kent Thompson, chief financial officer at Hugh Chatham, said in a press release. “We are pleased to report that Hugh Chatham has now entered into an agreement with Cerner to make this a reality.”

After the cloud-based deployment, providers had access to patient health history using the national interoperability framework, Hugh Chatham Memorial Hospital said.

These two organizations are few examples of many to sign onto the Cerner EHR system within the last year.

As of 2021, Cerner added and extended relationships with more than 400 clients, according to the most recent growth report.

“The past two years have amplified the importance of shared learning and the value of a fully digitized healthcare system,” Travis Dalton, chief client, and services officer of Cerner, said in a public statement. “Technology enables us to improve access to care, increase the speed of innovation and empower clinicians to make more informed decisions on their patients’ care.”