Community Hospital Partners with Oracle Cerner for EHR Implementation

Hugh Chatham Memorial Hospital, a North Carolina-based community hospital system, has signed a contract with Oracle Cerner to launch a cloud-based EHR implementation, according to reporting from elkintribune.

In efforts to advance patient care, the partnership will give the community healthcare system access to CommunityWorksSM, which is a cloud-based EHR platform designed to meet the unique needs of the community, critical access, and specialty hospitals.

“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.”

Officials have stated that the implementation process is currently underway.

“An implementation timeline is being formulated, and our pre-implementation work has already begun. Feedback from our providers and key personnel has been integral throughout the assessment and selection process. We are grateful for the focus and expertise from Oracle Cerner and our team. Oracle Cerner’s focus on data analytics and peer benchmarking makes them an integral part of the team as opposed to a vendor,” Jonathan Snyder, MD, chief medical officer at Hugh Chatham, said.

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

Additionally, the EHR implementation aims to streamline clinical, financial, and operational workflows in an integrated health record.

“Oracle Cerner is excited to team with community hospitals like Chatham Memorial Hospital to help make it easier to provide their communities with an integrated healthcare experience,” said Bob Kopanic, senior vice president and North America market leader at Oracle Cerner. “Implementing this new technology supports the health systems in their strategic plans to grow and be more efficient, but most importantly to help execute their mission to consistently deliver exceptional care to their patients through better service, teamwork, and accountability.”

With interoperability being a significant priority throughout the health IT industry, more community, critical access, and specialty hospitals are signing on to Oracle Cerner’s EHR system.

Between April and June 2022, 11 new clients implemented Oracle Cerner’s CommunityWorks EHR, according to a Cerner report.

“We chose Oracle Cerner CommunityWorks because they understand the challenges of successful implementation in a Critical Access Hospital and are prepared to help overcome them,” Angel Portman, CEO at Breckinridge Health, a critical access hospital located in Kentucky, said in a statement in a past press release about the Oracle Cerner implementation.