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Community Hospital of Anaconda Is First to Bring Personal Health Records to Montana

Answering the President’s call for a Personal Health Record (PHR) for Every American and Demonstrating PHR Value in Rural America and to Medicare Beneficiaries

Community Hospital of Anaconda (CHA) CEO, Steve McNeece, today announced the launch of a campaign to create personal health records (PHRs) for residents of Anaconda-Deer Lodge and adjoining counties in an effort to increase the use of healthcare technology to improve healthcare quality and efficiency and to meet the Federal Government’s goal of an online PHR for all Medicare beneficiaries.

Community Hospital of Anaconda and its affiliated medical staff will be offering the iHealthRecord via the Medem Network, the largest secure online physician communication network in the U.S. The iHealthRecord service includes a standards-based secure PHR as well as content and patient education from 47 medical societies, national patient advocacy groups and government agencies. The Anaconda iHealth project is a national model for PHR roll-out in rural communities and will provide an ideal setting to demonstrate the value of these services for the citizens of Montana and the rest of the country. Through Medem, this service will be available to all Montanans without cost to individuals so that people statewide may have access to this service.

The National Center for Health Care Informatics and students from Montana Tech of the University of Montana in Butte will assist CHA with this rollout. Although most individuals will be able to complete their iHealthRecord, and those of their loved ones such as children or aging parents, themselves, volunteers will conduct outreach events throughout the Anaconda community to assist people to learn how to create PHRs. According to Ray Rogers of the National Center for Health Care Informatics, "Throughout the US, we are beginning to see a transformation from antiquated paper record systems to modern electronic health record systems. Patients now have the ability to take control of their personal health information, and the adoption of the iHealthRecord in Anaconda, and adjoining counties, is a major step in the right direction."

iHealthRecord is a no-cost, secure and confidential interactive record that allows patients to store, update and share health information with their regular physicians, with consulting specialty physicians and in emergency situations. William Reiter, MD, FACP, stated, "The electronic personal health record can become a crucial part of how we use advances in information technology to improve patient care. It will allow emergency room doctors to obtain immediate access to critical patient information when it’s most urgently needed and will allow all doctors and patients to communicate more fully with each other in a variety of circumstances."

"Secure personal health records and patient-physician communication are important for all consumers," noted Edward Fotsch, MD, CEO, of Medem Inc., "but the value is uniquely important in rural communities where distance can be longer and challenges of paper-based records are amplified."

Providers affiliated with CHA now offer iHealth Services and will use it as the replacement for the medical clipboard for office visits and hospital admissions. An iHealth link has been created through the CHA Web site (www.communityhospitalofanaconda.org) offering an iHealthRecord to patients and consumers. Once an iHealthRecord is created, users will be able to print a wallet card to carry important health information at all times and patients may register online for office visits using the iHealth Services. Patients of Pintler Family Practice and Anaconda Internal Medicine will be offered assistance in establishing an iHealthRecord following office visits. Community Hospital of Anaconda will host community outreach events this spring for other community members to establish personal health records.

CEO McNeece remarked, "CHA is privileged to be at the forefront of implementing health information technology that will improve the accuracy and quality of care we provide to our patients. The implementation of the PHR at CHA is part of our goal to add value to the services we provide."

About Community Hospital of Anaconda

Community Hospital of Anaconda has been serving the healthcare needs of Anaconda-Deer Lodge County since 1969. Today, CHA offers a full continuum of care including inpatient hospital services, outpatient services, physical therapy, occupational therapy, MRI, CT, mammography, X-Ray, two physician practices, an Eden registered long-term care facility, and Hospice services. Located in Southwest Montana, CHA has a medical staff of approximately 50 physicians and over 220 employees.

In 2004, CHA became the first "Baby Friendly Hospital" in the state of Montana, and only the 39th hospital nationally to receive this prestigious designation from the World Health Organization. CHA was honored in 2004 to receive the President’s Award for outstanding leadership in Public Health by the Montana Public Health Association. In 2005, the American Diabetes Association awarded Education Recognition to the Community Hospital of Anaconda Diabetes Self-Management Program. During 2005, CHA also received the Quality Achievement Award from the Mountain Pacific Quality Health Foundation for its achievements with respect to clinical performance indicators.

For more information, please visit http://www.communityhospitalofanaconda.org.

About the National Center for Health Care Informatics

The National Center for Health Care Informatics (NCHCI) is a Montana, not- for-profit Corporation with a goal of finding solutions to the growing information technology challenges of the modern health care industry in America. The NCHCI is located on the campus of Montana Tech of the University of Montana and is actively engaged in projects including the development of a regional Electronic Health Record (EHR) collaborative, a Regional Health Information Organization (RHIO) for Montana, and actively delivers health care information technology conferences to health care stakeholders within the region. The NCHCI assisted in the development of the nation’s first undergraduate degree in Health Care Informatics at Montana Tech.

About iHealth Services

iHealth Services are provided to consumers via the Internet from a hospital or physician practice Web site or other professional source, and include secure personal health records, patient-provider email and automated and customized patient education with clinical content and support from US Medical Societies, government agencies and other national healthcare institutions. The iHealthRecord integrates with other important sources of information including insurance data and physician or hospital electronic medical records to assist patients in keeping their health record current. Once an iHealthRecord is created, it is owned and controlled by the patient.

About Medem, Inc.

Medem established the nation’s first secure, interactive online personal health record, the iHealthRecord. Based in San Francisco, Medem was incorporated in 1999 and was founded by a group of the nation’s leading medical societies, including: the American Academy of Ophthalmology; the American Academy of Pediatrics; the American College of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology; the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists; the American Medical Association; the American Psychiatric Association; and the American Society of Plastic Surgeons. There are currently 47 societies partnering with Medem whose combined membership represents more than two- thirds of physicians practicing in the United States. For more information, please visit http://www.medem.com or http://www.ihealthrecord.org.

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