Berkshire Health Systems Selects Allscripts Electronic Health Record and Practice Management Solution for Employed and Affiliated Physicians

CHICAGO and PITTSFIELD, Mass., Dec. 8, 2010 /PRNewswire/ -- Berkshire Health Systems (BHS) will deploy the Allscripts Electronic Health Record (EHR) and Practice Management (PM) solution with integrated claims and revenue cycle management for its 108 employed physicians, mid-level providers, hospitalists and emergency room physicians to enhance the quality of patient care, improve patient communications, and better manage the cost of care delivery.

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Berkshire Health Systems, a private, not-for-profit integrated delivery network serving the residents of Berkshire County, Mass., and communities in adjacent eastern New York, northwest Connecticut and southwest Vermont, will also offer to host and support the Allscripts solution for over 300 affiliated physicians.

BHS selected Allscripts based on the recommendations of a committee of employed and affiliated BHS physicians, who spent nearly a year reviewing Electronic Health Record and practice management solutions. They chose Allscripts for the strong functionality of the EHR, ease of use, and the ability to easily connect and exchange information.

"Our vision is to provide a robust electronic health record not only for Berkshire Health Systems but for our entire community of care, and our physicians believe Allscripts is the right choice," said William Young, Chief Information Officer of BHS. "Whether they're employed by us or refer patients to our hospitals for care, this partnership will help all of our providers to connect to one another leading to further integration, better coordination of care, and ultimately improved outcomes for our patients."

The BHS healthcare network is anchored by Berkshire Medical Center, a 302-bed community hospital ranked among the Top 100™ hospitals for 2010 by the Hospital Value Index™ and is ranked #1 in Massachusetts for Critical Care and Stroke Care by HealthGrades, in addition to being a recipient of HealthGrades' Pulmonary Care and Stroke Care Excellence Awards.  The health system also includes Fairview Hospital in Great Barrington, MA, the Berkshire Visiting Nurse Association, 18 owned physician practices, and long-term care associate Berkshire Healthcare Systems.

Allscripts will replace BHS's existing practice management and Electronic Health Record solutions in their owned physician practices. BHS-affiliated physicians not directly employed by the health system will be able to access Allscripts through a turn-key solution that will include hosted delivery over the Internet, a help desk, interfaces to ancillary services such as laboratory and radiology, and connections to BHS's Meditech hospital information systems.

Hospitalists and emergency physicians employed in BHS hospitals will be able to view patient records from within the Electronic Health Record, ensuring they know a patient's full medical history and medications before they treat them.

"Berkshire Health Systems joins the nation's leading integrated delivery systems in providing world class information tools for their physicians and caregivers while at the same time extending similar benefits to physicians across the community," said Glen Tullman, Chief Executive Officer of Allscripts. "Connecting physicians to better information, allowing for the real time exchange of critical patient information, and smoothing transitions of care lead to better outcomes and a more positive and safer patient experience. Our congratulations to Berkshire Health Systems for leading the way."  

Helping Physicians Demonstrate Meaningful Use and Increase Efficiency

While improved patient care was the primary motivation for BHS's decision to implement an EHR, the health system also expects that Allscripts will help their physicians qualify for between $44,000 and $64,000 each in federal incentives for EHR adoption.  Physicians who demonstrate "meaningful use" of an EHR can qualify for the Medicare incentive payments beginning in 2011 under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA).

To assist its physicians in demonstrating "meaningful use," BHS will implement the Allscripts Clinical Quality Solution (CQS). CQS automates the time-consuming process of demonstrating "meaningful use," working in the background to aggregate patient results data from the EHR and compile clinical quality measurement reports required for participation in the ARRA EHR program, as well as other pay-for-quality programs managed by government and payers. CQS also delivers real-time clinical decision support information to physicians at the point of care, promoting high quality patient care.

Helping to make its physician practices more efficient, BHS will deploy Allscripts Revenue Cycle Management  solutions, integrated with the PM solution, to automate billing, scheduling, claims management and other vital financial functions. Allscripts Revenue Cycle solutions are used by thousands of physician groups across the U.S. to process more than 300 million claims annually and 600 million overall revenue cycle transactions.

About Berkshire Health System

Berkshire Health Systems is the leading provider of comprehensive healthcare services for the residents of Berkshire County, Mass., and communities in adjacent eastern New York, northwest Connecticut and southwest Vermont. A private, not-for-profit organization, BHS serves the region through a network of affiliates which include Berkshire Medical Center, the BMC Hillcrest Campus, Fairview Hospital, Berkshire Visiting Nurse Association, BHS physician practices, and long-term care associate Berkshire Healthcare Systems. Each of these facilities is distinguished by the high quality of their programs and services, and by the credentials, skill and compassion of their physicians, nurses and caregivers. For more information, please visit www.berkshirehealthsystems.org.

About Allscripts

Allscripts (Nasdaq: MDRX) provides innovative solutions that empower all stakeholders across the healthcare continuum to deliver world-class outcomes. The company's clinical, financial, connectivity and information solutions for hospitals, physicians and post-acute organizations are the essential technologies that enable a connected community of health. To learn more about Allscripts, please visit www.allscripts.com, Twitter, Facebook and YouTube.

Forward-Looking Statements

This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the federal securities laws. Statements regarding future events or developments, our future performance, as well as management's expectations, beliefs, intentions, plans, estimates or projections relating to the future are forward-looking statements with the meaning of these laws. These forward-looking statements are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties, some of which are outlined below. As a result, no assurances can be given that any of the events anticipated by the forward-looking statements will transpire or occur, or if any of them do so, what impact they will have on our results of operations or financial condition.

Such risks, uncertainties and other factors include, among other things: the possibility that the expected synergies, efficiencies and cost savings of the merger with Eclipsys Corporation ("Eclipsys") will not be realized, or will not be realized within the expected time period; potential difficulties or delays in achieving platform and product integration and the connection and movement of data among hospitals, physicians, patients and others; the risk that the Allscripts and Eclipsys businesses will not be integrated successfully; competition within the industries in which we operate; failure to achieve certification under the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act could result in increased development costs, a breach of some customer obligations and could put us at a competitive disadvantage in the marketplace; the volume and timing of systems sales and installations, the length of sales cycles and the installation process and the possibility that our products will not achieve or sustain market acceptance; the timing, cost and success or failure of new product and service introductions, development and product upgrade releases; competitive pressures including product offerings, pricing and promotional activities; our ability to establish and maintain strategic relationships; undetected errors or similar problems in our software products; the outcome of any legal proceeding that has been or may be instituted against us; compliance with existing laws, regulations and industry initiatives and future changes in laws or regulations in the healthcare industry, including possible regulation of our software by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration; the possibility of product-related liabilities; our ability to attract and retain qualified personnel; the implementation and speed of acceptance of the electronic record provisions of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009; maintaining our intellectual property rights and litigation involving intellectual property rights; risks related to third-party suppliers and our ability to obtain, use or successfully integrate third-party licensed technology; and breach of our security by third parties. See our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended May 31, 2010 and other public filings with the SEC for a further discussion of these and other risks and uncertainties applicable to our business. The statements herein speak only as of their date and we undertake no duty to update any forward-looking statement whether as a result of new information, future events or changes in expectations.

SOURCE Allscripts