HIMSS Analytics honors Lafayette General Ambulatory Clinics and St. Martin Hospital

Lafayette General Health (LGH) is pleased to announce it has reached HIMSS Analytics Stage 7 designation, as tracked by the Electronic Record Adoption Model (EMRAM). This validation includes LGH ambulatory sites (physician clinics, UHC clinics, etc.) and St. Martin Hospital. The HIMSS Analytics Stage 7 award demonstrates best practice in the use of technology, workflow and continuous process improvements.

LGH has implemented innovative solutions as well as interoperability functionality with electronic medical records as defined by HIMSS Analytics Stage 7 standards. This has reinforced LGH’s goals and commitment to continuous improvements to safety and quality care for patients.

“We are so excited for this level of recognition. It’s something we have been actively working towards,” said Dr. Amanda Logue, SVP Chief Medical Officer for LGH. “To achieve HIMSS Analytics Stage 7 status indicates that many teams throughout the health system had to work together to make this possible. We will continue to work towards our united goal of providing the highest quality in patient care.”

The LGH ambulatory sites have been awarded, making them the first ambulatory sites in the state of Louisiana to achieve this designation. In the nation, only 10 percent of ambulatory clinics have received this status.

St. Martin Hospital is the first critical access site to receive this status in Louisiana. Only 7 percent of the hospitals in the nation have received the HIMSS Analytics Stage 7 EMRAM validation.

“We are the first healthcare facility in Lafayette to achieve HIMSS Analytics Stage 7 and just the third hospital in Louisiana,” said System President David L. Callecod, FACHE. “This is a great recognition for our health system. Our patients are at the center of everything we do. We will continue to strive to maximize the utilization of information technology to improve their health, reduce their costs and improve our quality of care.”

HIMSS Analytics developed the EMR Adoption Model in 2005 as a methodology for evaluating the progress and impact of electronic medical record systems for hospitals in the HIMSS Analytics Database. Tracking their progress in completing eight stages (0-7), hospitals can review the implementation and utilization of information technology applications with the intent of reaching Stage 7, which represents an advanced electronic patient record environment.

In order to achieve Stage 7 the hospitals do the following:

• The hospital no longer uses paper charts to deliver and manage patient care and has a mixture of discrete data, document images and medical images within its EMR environment.
• Data warehousing is being used to analyze patterns of clinical data to improve quality of care, patient safety and care delivery efficiency.
• Clinical information can be readily shared via standardized electronic transactions (i.e. CCD) with all entities that are authorized to treat the patient, or a health information exchange (i.e. other non-associated hospitals, outpatient clinics, sub-acute environments, employers, payers and patients in a data sharing environment). 
• The hospital demonstrates summary data continuity for all hospital services (e.g. inpatient, outpatient, ED and with any owned or managed outpatient clinics).
• Physician documentation and CPOE has reached 90 percent (excluding the ED), and the closed-loop processes have reached 95 percent.

About HIMSS Analytics

HIMSS Analytics® is a global healthcare information and technology standards organization assisting regulatory bodies and healthcare providers in making lasting improvements in efficiency, performance, and care outcomes. Offering a suite of Maturity Models led by flagship model EMRAM, HIMSS Analytics provides prescriptive frameworks to healthcare organizations allowing for global comparability, benchmarking, and strategic clinical and financial improvement. HIMSS Analytics Certified Consultant Program offers professional training for vendors to educate and build strategy around the Maturity Models.