FLORENCE, SC – Clinicians at Pee Dee Cardiology, a private cardiology practice in Florence, S.C., are preparing to upgrade to an electronic health record and practice management system designed to help them to participate in financial incentive programs.

The practice's 13 physicians and 3 mid-level providers had been using a PM system from Misys, and after last year's merger between Allscripts and Misys, they decided to upgrade to Allscripts Professional EHR and PM.

"Allscripts-Misys has been a great partner with us for years, and the merger has expanded their product offering, feature functions and client base throughout the Carolinas and the nation," said Alan Blaker, MD, managing partner of Pee Dee Cardiology Associates. "By implementing the Allscripts electronic health record and practice management solution, we're continuing our focus on reinvesting in technology that delivers the highest quality care to our patients in the most efficient and cost-effective manner possible."

Allscripts will help the practice participate in financial incentive programs managed by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), said Chief Operating Officer Jerry Vereen.

"A big part of our decision to implement Allscripts is its proven ability to help practices provide high quality evidence-based care, to communicate more effectively and to qualify for government incentive programs like those available today from CMS," he said.

Pee Dee Cardiology plans to immediately implement Allscripts ePrescribe, the free, stand-alone, Web-based version of the company's electronic prescribing technology. Once the EHR is fully implemented, Allscripts will transfer all patient data from Allscripts ePrescribe into the EHR and Pee Dee physicians will begin using the EHR's integrated e-prescribing module, which uses the same engine.

"Pee Dee Cardiology is a leading example of the thousands of small and medium-sized physician groups who have used our legacy Misys practice management system for many years and now see the opportunity to take their practices to the next level with our market-leading electronic health record," said Glen Tullman, chief executive officer of Allscripts. "Their physicians also recognize the new federal stimulus package will provide an offset to the cost of the electronic health record and we're proud to say that no one else is better at helping them to deliver on that promise than Allscripts."