Associated Cardiovascular Consultants Selects Sage Intergy EHR to Enhance Quality, Clinical Trial Research and Physician-Patient Re...(ased capability and adaptability Sage In...)

-- Capture the data necessary to collect the 2 percent bonus that the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services will begin paying in 2009 to physicians who successfully e-prescribe under Medicare Part D.

-- Send friendly, customized letters to encourage patients who are uninsured or have high-deductible health plans to work out a payment plan, rather than just receiving monthly statements followed by calls from debt collectors. This allows ACC to work in a cooperative manner with patients to implement a mutually beneficial payment schedule, which will greatly enhance patient satisfaction and retention as well as improving collections.

-- Provide innovative patient- and caregiver-friendly encounter summaries to ensure that when patients leave the office they will have information about their treatment plan at their fingertips. Cardiology care is complex and many patients, especially the elderly, often are unable to remember or relay physicians' instructions to their caregiver when they get home. The encounter summary will help enhance quality of care and timely patient adherence with the prescribed course of treatment, thus improving outcomes. Additionally, it also will provide interested patients with key information to create and maintain an online personal health record, and boost practice efficiency by reducing the volume of calls from patients and their caregivers.

-- Facilitate patient recruitment for clinical trials being performed by ACC. By embedding the criteria for all its clinical trials into the EHR alert function, ACC will be able to identify candidates for clinical trials as soon as they present before a medical assistant, nurse or physician. This will dramatically improve the efficiency of the patient identification and recruitment process.

Said Sharon Howard, senior vice preside
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