LEHIGH VALLEY, PA – Coordinated Health, a Lehigh, Pa.-based provider of sports and musculoskeletal medicine services, has implemented a new electronic medical record and management solution to automate processes at eight locations.

Allscripts-Misys Healthcare Solutions' Enterprise Electronic Medical Record and Practice Management solutions are designed to help smooth transitions for Coordinated Health's patients as they move between care settings, according to officials.

Coordinated Health operates a surgical specialty hospital in Bethlehem, Pa., that combines outpatient facilities with 20 inpatient rooms for patients who require extensive care. A second surgical speciality hospital with 22 inpatient rooms is scheduled to open in Allentown in July.

"In addition to taking advantage of the federal incentives, we felt we could create significant practice efficiencies and position ourselves as a provider of management services for smaller practices in the region by hosting Allscripts for them," said John Fistner, Coordinated Health's chief financial officer. "Being on the same system with those practices would also help us improve the coordination of care between referring physicians and our specialists, which in turn will improve the quality of care for our patients."

The federal incentives come from stimulus legislation passed earlier this year. The HITECH Act, part of  the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA), provides physicians with $44,000 to $64,000 in stimulus funding for the use of certified EHR technology beginning in 2011.

With this new system, Coordinated Health hopes to give physicians full-time access to patient health information. The electronic medical record is designed to automate physician workflow, including tasks such as prescribing and refilling medications, ordering tests and viewing results, as well as documenting patient encounters.

"Coordinated Health has again demonstrated their leadership among the greater Lehigh Valley medical groups by responding quickly to President Obama's call for the adoption of electronic health records to improve the quality and cost-effectiveness of patient care in the United States," said Glen Tullman, chief executive officer of Chicago-based Allscripts.