Gibson Area Hospital and Health Services (GAHHS) in the US has announced the adoption of MEDITECH Expanse as its new electronic health record (EHR) platform.
This move is aimed at enhancing the hospital's autonomy and expanding its speciality services across eight counties through its main campus and 29 clinics.
GAHHS's decision to implement Expanse using the cloud-hosted MEDITECH as a service (MaaS) model was driven by the need to reduce resources and EHR implementation costs.
The MaaS model is expected to enable GAHHS to customise workflows to meet the requirements of its growing range of speciality services while maintaining a unified EHR platform for connected care.
GAHHS communications executive director Joshua Johnson said: “We have been using two disparate systems with add-on solutions, and have upward of 27 separate patient portals.”
The hospital plans to leverage Expanse to improve patient engagement by introducing features such as messaging, self-scheduling of appointments, and virtual visit options.
In addition, MEDITECH’s Expanse Patient Connect will be used for secure texting and communication, offering patient reminders and appointment confirmations.
Appointment confirmation and reminder tool Expanse Patient Connect is also part of the package, along with mobile solutions such as Expanse Now.
Expanse Now is designed to enhance the provider experience by increasing mobility, which could help mitigate burnout among healthcare providers.
GAHHS also anticipates the integration of third-party apps with Expanse to enhance the overall experience.
GAHHS finance executive director Kara McAdam said: “With disparate systems, it became increasingly more difficult and expensive to implement third-party solutions.
“From a financial perspective, having a scalable solution with open APIs, where we can implement solutions to complement the EHR, will be a great benefit.”
The platform's ability to facilitate integrated communication and care coordination between acute and ambulatory settings was another factor in GAHHS’ decision.
GAHHS is also looking forward to workflow improvements through an integrated revenue cycle, and the ability to monitor patient populations with Expanse Care Compass registries.
