George C. Grape Community Hospital in Hamburg expects to qualify for several hundred thousand dollars in federal reimbursement for implementing and demonstrating meaningful use of a certified electronic health record (EHR).  This reimbursement will be used to help cover the costs of acquiring the EHR system.  The reimbursement is part of the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act, which offers health care providers financial incentives for demonstrating meaningful use of an EHR system.

In the second half of 2010, Grape Community Hospital began planning to demonstrate meaningful use of a certified EHR by the year 2014 or 2015.  The hospital quickly accelerated the timeline when offered the opportunity to beta test Healthland Centriq, an EHR system designed specifically for small community hospitals.  CEO Mike O’Neal proposed the project to the board of directors in September 2010.  The extensive project that included installing high-speed fiber, new computer hardware, installing and testing new software, staff training and new audit processes kicked off in early 2011 with a goal of achieving meaningful use before the end of the year.

“By working with Healthland as a beta partner we got to have input into the features of the final product, and because Centriq is certified for meaningful use we knew we could qualify for the federal funding to help cover costs,” said Craig Wells, the hospital’s IT director.  “That was all the incentive we needed to take on an aggressive implementation schedule to get us to meaningful use in the first year of eligibility and help us quickly recoup the up-front costs of the project.”

During the software implementation phase of the project in May 2011, hospital workers pitched in with the rest of the community in an effort to hold back the Missouri River floodwaters.  By early June 2011, washed out roads and highways had left the town virtually cut-off from surrounding communities.

Thirteen employees living in the flood zone had to evacuate their homes.

Staff members commuting from Nebraska saw their travel time to work increase from 20 minutes to two hours each way. (IHA assisted 12 Grape Community Hospital employees through the IHA Hospital Employee Disaster Relief Fund.)

“While the floodwater didn’t physically impact our building or the town of Hamburg, the stress of the disaster took a toll on everyone in the community,” said Lynda Cruickshank, the hospital’s marketing and development director.  “Every able member of the hospital staff volunteered to help people evacuate, or sandbag homes, or prepare food for other volunteers.

“The flood response would have been exhausting on its own, but our staff did whatever was needed to keep the EHR project on schedule as well.”

In July 2011, as floodwaters and road closings continued to cut off the town, the hospital mounted a major communications campaign to let people in surrounding communities know the hospital remained open and ready to serve their healthcare needs. This was also a key time for the hospital as it was going through a mandatory 90-day reporting period to prove that the staff was using the new EHR system as required to qualify for reimbursements.

“Completing our reporting period and attesting to meaningful use was a huge milestone and I can’t tell you how proud I am of what our team accomplished and overcame in the past year,” said O’Neal, the hospital’s CEO.