Riverside Medical Center in Franklinton recently earned its “Stage 6” recognition with a national organization that rates hospitals, according to RMC officials.

HIMSS Analytics announced Riverside Medical Center has achieved Stage 6 on the EMR Adoption ModelSM (EMRAM).

HIMSS Analytics developed the EMR Adoption Model in 2005 as a methodology for evaluating the progress and impact of electronic medical record systems for hospitals. Tracking their progress in completing eight stages (0-7), hospitals can review the implementation and utilization of information technology applications with the intent of reaching Stage 7, which represents an advanced electronic patient record environment.

According to HIMSS Analytics, Stage 6 hospitals:

• Have made significant executive commitments and investments to reach this stage.
• Appear to have a significant advantage over competitors for patient safety, clinician support, clinician recruitment, and competitive marketing for both consumers and nurse recruitment.
• Have almost fully automated/paperless medical records when they have implemented their IT applications across most of the inpatient care settings.
• Are either starting to evaluate their data for care delivery process improvements or have already documented significant improvements in this area.
• Have made investments that are within reach of most hospitals and recognize the strategic value of improving patient care with the EMR.
• Have begun to create strategic alignments with their medical staff to effectively utilize information technology to improve the patient safety environment.
• Are well positioned to provide data to key stakeholders, such as payers, the government, physicians, consumers, and employers, to support electronic health record environments and health information exchanges.

Stage 6 hospitals also have achieved a significant advancement in their IT capabilities that positions them to successfully address many of the current industry transformations, such as meaningful use criteria in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, claims attachments for the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, pay for performance, and government quality reporting programs.

Riverside Medical Center, a 25-bed critical access hospital, transitioned to the electronic medical record Cerner Community Works, in April 2015. After going live with Cerner, the introduction of benchmarks, used for tracking quality data in order to help improve patient care was made. Riverside Medical Center was previously tracking quality, but with the use of the new electronic medical record and the possibility of becoming a HIMSS Level 6 hospital, it increased those benchmarks, allowing RMC to improve patient care, and the patient’s ability to access their medical record. The final piece of becoming a HIMMS Level 6 hospital involved updating the hospital’s PACs system, to include a URL link, so that radiology images could be viewed from Cerner. Riverside completed the upgrade of the PACs system in April 2017, beginning the conversation with HIMSS Level 6 designation.

“This is an outstanding accomplishment for Riverside Medical Center and the communities we serve,” said Peter Sullivan, CEO of Riverside Medical Center. “Since September 2016, when I became administrator here, I have had the pleasure of watching our team members at Riverside Medical Center work endless hours to ensure the best healthcare possible is offered to our rural community. I am proud to be a part of this organization, and I thank each member of our team on their hard work in making this prestigious recognition possible.”

“HIMSS Analytics congratulates Riverside Medical Center for making significant progress towards achieving advanced health IT adoption,” said John H. Daniels, global vice president for HIMSS Analytics. “Stage 6 represents a level of sophistication that can lead to innovative healthcare transformation.”

For more information on RMC, visit online at www.rmchospital.com.