Susquehanna Health Implements Summit Provider Exchange to Handle Bi-Directional Physician EMR Integration

[Alexandra Casey]

Susquehanna Health, a health system that includes four affiliate hospitals in rural north-central Pennsylvania, has successfully implemented the Summit Provider Exchange technology solution to effectively integrate bi-directionally with their physician offices.

Summit Provider Exchange allows Susquehanna Health to streamline inbound orders integration between their hospitals and physician practices currently running the NextGen EMR system. The technology solution ensures patient matching capabilities and in the event of a discrepancy, the order is flagged and put in a hold queue. From there, end users are able to match orders to patients using an intuitive click-to-match function. This process helps to avoid the pitfalls of duplicate patients and any unnecessary communications back to physician offices. With Summit Provider Exchange live, Susquehanna Health is processing an average of 700 inbound orders daily from NextGen.

With recent Medicare and Medicaid regulation implementations, Susquehanna Health gave Summit Healthcare the added task of flagging any patients that require an Advanced Beneficiary Notice of Non-coverage (ABN). With this regulation there needed to be a concise way to flag any ABN messages coming from the NextGen EMR system. The flexibility of the Summit Provider Exchange solution provided the ability to put these specific orders into a holding queue which enabled the Laboratory staff to file the proper paperwork before releasing the order.

The implementation of the Summit Provider Exchange technology at Susquehanna Health builds upon their already strong relationship with Summit Healthcare. Susquehanna aligned with Summit Healthcare in 2012 to implement the Summit Downtime Reporting System, a technology platform that ensures business continuity in the event of HCIS or network downtime.

"Summit Provider Exchange could not have been a better fit for our organization. The implementation process was seamless, and allowed for our existing technologies to remain in place,” said Tim Schoener, CIO, Susquehanna Health. "Working with a large physician office population and multiple physicians EMR systems, we knew we had some challenges. The Summit Healthcare team went above and beyond to meet our go live date and fulfill our integration needs.”

"Summit Healthcare is committed to working with our clients to support their integration and business continuity strategies. We are pleased to support Susquehanna Health as they embark on their physician EMR integration efforts and look forward to supporting them on future initiatives.” said Ted Rossi, CEO, Summit Healthcare.

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About Summit Healthcare
Summit Healthcare is the choice of hospitals who want to take full control of their healthcare system integration and automation needs. Since 1999, we have worked to provide the industry with the most flexible integration and automation technology with complementary tailored services and solutions.

Summit Healthcare has over 1,000 clients in the hospital marketplace, including close partnerships with complementary technology and value-added resellers. www.summit-healthcare.com.

 

About Susquehanna Health
Susquehanna Health is a four-hospital integrated health system including Divine Providence Hospital, Muncy Valley Hospital, Soldiers + Sailors Memorial Hospital and Williamsport Regional Medical Center located in northcentral Pennsylvania. Serving patients from an 11-county region, Susquehanna Health is a healthcare leader and has been recognized at the national and state levels for quality of care. Susquehanna Health offers a wide array of services that include cancer care, heart and vascular care/heart surgery, neurosciences including neurosurgery, orthopedics, urology, OB/GYN, gastrointestinal services, behavioral health, physical rehabilitation, home care, long term care, assisted living and paramedic/ambulance services.