ARRA grant allows Hamilton Community to adopt GEs EMR

GE Healthcare has landed an agreement to provide IT systems to a health network in Flint, Mich.

The company said the deal will bring its Centricity Practice for Community Health Centers, which includes an EMR system, to Hamilton Community Health Network (HCHN), a 25-physician, six campus practice serving the Flint, Mich., area’s uninsured and underinsured. According to 2008 U.S. Census Data, Flint’s poverty rate sits at 35.5 percent, tied for the fifth highest for U.S. medium-size and large communities. Also, one in four residents of Genesee County, Hamilton’s primary service area, lacks health insurance, according to the Genesee Regional Chamber of Commerce.

As part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA), the Department of Health and Human Services’ Health Resources and Services Administration awarded grants totaling more than $2 million to HCHN for capital improvements, including the adoption of an EMR.

Hamilton also will replace its existing practice management system through its selection of Centricity Practice for Community Health Centers. The agreement also outfits HCHN with tools to support its centers’ expanded data collection needs, uniform data system and Title X reporting requirements, community health center-specific billing demands and hardware for the network’s soon-to-open data center.

GE said its Centricity EMR version 9.2 is a Certification Commission for Healthcare Information Technology (CCHIT) Certified product for Ambulatory EHR 2008 + Cardiovascular + Child Health.

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