Midland Memorial Hospital Receives Federal Funds for Meaningful Use of OpenVista Electronic Health Record

Medsphere’s OpenVista enables Texas county hospital to meet Medicare and Medicaid requirements of federal reimbursement program and receive more than initial investment cost of OpenVista

Carlsbad, CA and Midland, TX—January 10, 2012—Medsphere Systems Corporation and Midland Memorial Hospital today announced that Midland Memorial has met the requirements for Stage One Meaningful Use with Medsphere’s OpenVista system, the empowering electronic health record (EHR), and has received an initial reimbursement from the federal government. According to Midland Memorial administrators, the hospital has received initial disbursements of $2.3 million from the Medicare side of the program and $1 million in Medicaid compensation.

Having gone live in early 2006, well before the federal reimbursement program was established, Midland Memorial is Medsphere’s long-standing partner and a true pioneer in the adoption of open source EHRs derived from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs’ VistA system, the most widely used EHR in the world. The 320-bed West Texas hospital will ultimately receive in excess of $7 million, significantly more than the initial investment cost of OpenVista, from the federal government over the life of the Meaningful Use reimbursement program established by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA).

“When Midland Memorial embarked on their EHR journey, there was no federal Meaningful Use reimbursement program, clearly demonstrating both the foresight and commitment to quality of Midland hospital administrators,” said Medsphere President and CEO Irv Lichtenwald. “It is so gratifying to see our valued partner receive this financial reward for their extensive efforts to improve patient care and control costs.”

Since implementing OpenVista, Midland Memorial has significantly improved the quality of patient care, with 93 percent of physicians using OpenVista. It has also been recognized repeatedly as one of the nation’s best hospitals. In 2008 alone, the hospital was named a Thomson Top 100 Hospital and one of America’s Best Hospitals, and also received a CEO HIT Achievement Award from the Healthcare Information Management and Systems Society (HIMSS) and a Performance Award from U.S. News and World Report. Also in 2008 Midland Memorial was named one of the first 11 hospitals in the nation to receive HIMSS Analytics Stage 6 recognition for comprehensive health IT adoption.

“I simply can’t say enough about the flexibility and hard work of Midland Memorial clinicians and staff over the last few years. They embraced twenty-first century healthcare technology before there was a financial incentive to do so, which says a great deal about their level of commitment,” said Midland Memorial CEO Russell Meyers. “Medsphere and OpenVista gave us an economical path to a comprehensive EHR, and we look forward to working collaboratively to enhance the solution as we prepare for the next stages of Meaningful Use.”

Midland Memorial joins other Medsphere hospital partners who have received federal stimulus funds, including the previously announced Hoboken University Medical Center, which recently received an estimated $3 million of what is expected to be roughly $8 million in total federal reimbursement.

According to statistics provided at the end of September by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), slightly less than 10 percent of all U.S. hospitals have met Meaningful Use requirements and received stimulus funds. As one of a select group of hospitals that have received federal reimbursement, Midland Memorial has demonstrated what a community hospital can accomplish with the right system, partners and commitment.

About Medsphere and OpenVista