Glades General Hospital First in Palm Beach County to Provide On-Site Electronic Birth Re...( BELLE GLADE Fla. Aug. 30 /- Glade...),Health

BELLE GLADE, Fla., Aug. 30 /PRNewswire/ -- Glades General Hospital became the first hospital in Palm Beach County to register births literally at bedside. Thanks to its new Electronic Birth Registry (EBR) system, launched on August 8, Glades General has automated and accelerated the process of registering births, reducing the costs and processing time. Now the staff at Glades General can gather the patient data, print out the report, and get the required electronic signatures -- all at the bedside, within minutes. Once she's released, the new mom can immediately obtain an official copy of the newborn's birth certificate at the Office of Vital Statistics at the Palm Beach County Health Department, located at 1150 45th Street in West Palm Beach. Before, parents in Florida had to wait as long as six weeks to receive their new baby's birth certificate in the mail.

"We are very proud to be the first in the county to roll out this new system," says David Zechman, the Chief Executive Officer of Glades General. "This distinction highlights the fact that Glades General -- even though it's a rural hospital -- is at the forefront of health care technology in Florida."

Glades General Hospital is a 73-bed JCAHO accredited acute care hospital that provides a 24-hour physician staffed emergency room and a full-range of inpatient and out-patient services. As Palm Beach County's only public hospital, Glades General provides quality care to 3,600 inpatients a year. Since acquiring Glades General Hospital in 2004, the Health Care District of Palm Beach County has invested $3.5 million in new technology, including a 16-slice CT scanner, a digital radiology system, flat-screen computer monitors, flat-screen televisions, a state-of-the-art electronic patient documentation system, and wireless technology in the Obstetrics Unit, which is a technical requirement for the EBR system.

The EBR system is an initiative of the Florida Department of Health Office of Vital S
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