Stilwell Memorial Hospital Selects OpenVista

Oklahoma community hospital cites affordability, flexibility and retained control as deciding factors in choosing Medsphere’s open source EHR solution

Stilwell, Okla., and Carlsbad, Calif.—Medsphere Systems Corporation, the leading provider of open source electronic health record (EHR) solutions and services, today announced that Oklahoma’s Stilwell Memorial Hospital has selected the OpenVista®  EHR system for implementation.

The community medical center will take advantage of OpenVista's flexibility and comprehensive clinical support, as well as Medsphere’s rapid implementation process and clinical transformation services, to affordably improve care and secure the maximum federal stimulus reimbursement.

"For community hospitals like Stilwell Memorial—safety net care providers, essentially—the OpenVista EHR meets a need that the larger healthcare technology companies simply don’t. Medsphere’s track record and unique ability to quickly provide clinical transformation under an affordable business model is unmatched," said Alan Adams, CEO at Stilwell Memorial. “We are excited to collaborate with Medsphere and look forward to the same success in clinical improvement and federal stimulus funding that other Medsphere partners now enjoy.”

Stilwell Memorial will now become a full participant in Medsphere's Healthcare Open Source Ecosystem, where clinicians, administrators and other OpenVista EHR users share system enhancements, upgrades and best practices. As the Ecosystem continues to grow, additional contributions will improve care for patients at participating facilities.
“Medsphere is very happy to welcome Stilwell Memorial to our community of hospital partners focused on ensuring improved care through access to affordable EHR systems that benefit all patients, not just those fortunate enough to live near big, wealthy hospitals,” said Irv Lichtenwald, Medsphere president and CEO. “The team at Stilwell understands that cooperation and affordable information sharing improve both healthcare and healthcare IT. It’s this evolving attitude and level of collaboration that will keep healthcare from bankrupting the nation.”

Medsphere's OpenVista EHR is the commercialized version of the VistA EHR created and developed by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) over 20 years ago and credited with helping turn the agency into a national leader in quality patient care. Using open source code available from the VA through the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), OpenVista can be implemented much more quickly and affordably than traditional proprietary solutions.

About Stilwell Memorial Hospital

Stilwell Memorial Hospital, a full-service health care center licensed for 34 acute care beds, 10 geriatric psychiatric beds and 7 bassinets, has had a tradition of quality care since 1977. Stilwell offers a full range of healthcare services, including general and family practice, internal medicine, urology, psychiatry, OB/GYN, ENT, orthopedics and general surgery. The hospital also offers emergency room, MRI and other radiology services, respiratory care, home health, orthopedic surgery and procedures, and physical therapy. An outstanding hospital auxiliary contributes greatly to Stilwell’s success, as does a physician's clinic added in 1998 and enlarged in 2007. A recently added geriatric psychiatric unit creates a wide variety of options appropriate for a progressive rural facility.

About Medsphere and OpenVista

Founded in 2002 and based in Carlsbad, Calif., Medsphere Systems Corporation is an award-winning organization of clinical and technology professionals working to make quality health IT solutions accessible to organizations of virtually any size, shape or budget. Medsphere’s OpenVista is a portfolio of clinical support products and professional services that leverages an electronic health record (EHR) system developed by the Department of Veterans Affairs. This VistA EHR is widely credited with helping transform the VA into the nation's most efficient and clinically effective healthcare organization. OpenVista, the most fully commercialized VistA offspring, is a responsible reapplication of the VA’s $8.5 billion investment, which recent studies show have yielded $3.09 billion in benefits, primarily from the near elimination of medication administration issues and duplicate testing.

Medsphere’s subscription-based pricing model enables hospital, clinic and integrated delivery network customers to pay for OpenVista from their operating budget with no upfront costs or back-end balloon payments. Expert implementation and other services facilitate fluid and rapid transition to a paperless clinical environment focusing on best practices and evidence-based medicine in six to nine months. Medsphere also actively nurtures the Healthcare Open Source Ecosystem, a global community of customers, partners, developers and other online collaborators who drive OpenVista innovation, and provide a parallel development and support structure.

Learn more about Medsphere at www.medsphere.com / www.medsphere.org.

CONTACT:
Medsphere Systems
David Macfarlane
760-692-3751
[email protected]

or

Stalwart Communications
David Oats
858-750-5560
[email protected]