Thomson Reuters Teams With Ministry Health Care to Develop Meaningful Use Quality Manager

Modular Solution Enables 15 Hospital System to Meet EHR Reporting Objectives

News provided by

Feb 16, 2012, 09:30 ET

ANN ARBOR, Mich., Feb. 16, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Ministry Health Care, a 15 hospital health system operating in Wisconsin and Minnesota, has become one of only 17 hospital systems nationwide to receive certification for their hospital electronic medical record systems. This milestone was accomplished through a development partnership whereby Thomson Reuters created a new Meaningful Use Quality Manager product to help Ministry and other providers with multiple technology platforms meet the clinical quality measures reporting objective for Meaningful Use.

(Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20090507/NY12658LOGO )

Meaningful Use refers to part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) which authorizes the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) to provide reimbursement incentives for physician and hospital providers that become "meaningful users" of electronic health records (EHR). These incentive payments began in 2011 and will gradually phase down, putting the onus on providers to prove that they can meet meaningful use requirements quickly. Using the Thomson Reuters Meaningful Use Quality Manager, Ministry Health Care was able to complete its Meaningful Use certification tests in October 2011.

"Like most mid-sized hospital systems that have experienced rapid growth in recent years, Ministry uses a collection of several reporting tools across our 15 hospital system; it was therefore essential for us to be able to implement a modular solution for Meaningful Use that worked across our various technologies," said Steve Pelton, vice president, enterprise applications, Ministry Health Care. "Thomson Reuters brought expert guidance and the flexibility to develop an a la carte solution to the Meaningful Use quality reporting requirements that is a truly revolutionary solution for today's health systems."

The Thomson Reuters Meaningful Use Quality Manager was developed collaboratively with clinical and IT staff at Ministry Health Care. The solution builds on Thomson Reuters' market-leading hospital quality management and reporting data and analytics, customized to meet the specific reporting objectives of Meaningful Use. Designed for seamless integration into existing reporting solutions, the Thomson Reuters Meaningful Use Quality Manager allows providers seeking modular EHR certification to quickly align all necessary data for streamlined reporting.

"Hospitals and health systems are facing enormous challenges meeting the reporting requirements necessary to demonstrate quality care," said C. Douglas Shaw, executive vice president in the Healthcare business of Thomson Reuters. "Ministry's ability to complete their Meaningful Use certification tests in 2011 is a testament to the power of our mutual collaboration and practical problem solving to create a solution that works. The Meaningful Use Quality Manager is proving to be an important solution for providers with multiple technologies."

About Thomson Reuters
Thomson Reuters is the world's leading source of intelligent information for businesses and professionals. We combine industry expertise with innovative technology to deliver critical information to leading decision makers in the financial, legal, tax and accounting, healthcare and science and media markets, powered by the world's most trusted news organization. With headquarters in New York and major operations in London and Eagan, Minnesota, Thomson Reuters employs 55,000 people and operates in over 100 countries. For more information, go to www.thomsonreuters.com.

About Ministry Health Care
Ministry Health Care, a Catholic integrated health care delivery system, serves more than one million people in Wisconsin and eastern Minnesota. Ministry was founded more than 120 years ago by the Sisters of the Sorrowful Mother to meet the health care needs of the growing population of central and northern Wisconsin. The Ministry system includes 15 hospitals; 47 clinics; more than 650 employed primary care and specialist physicians and advanced practice clinicians; more than 12,000 employees and generates more than $2 billion in annual operating revenue. Through Network Health Plan, the organization provides health insurance benefits to 133,000 members in many communities throughout northeastern Wisconsin. Ministry's parent organization, Marian Health System, sponsored by the Sisters of the Sorrowful Mother, a 36-affiliated hospital system with more than 150 clinics also operates health systems in Tulsa, Okla. and Wichita, Kan.

SOURCE Thomson Reuters