BIRMINGHAM, AL – HealthSouth Corporation, a publicly traded company focused solely on inpatient rehabilitative care, plans to digitize care processes across the company's 97 inpatient rehabilitation facilities in 26 states. HealthSouth tapped Kansas City, Mo.-based Cerner to get the job done.

"Cerner was selected because of its complete and scalable electronic health record offering that spans the entire service line with our hospitals," said Rusty Yeager, HealthSouth CIO. "Implementing this system in our hospitals will allow clinicians, therapists and physicians to spend more time focusing on patients and their recovery."

"As healthcare reform continues, creating meaningful interoperability between acute care and post-acute care environments will become increasingly important," said Zane Burke, Cerner executive vice president. "Many of HealthSouth's hospital referrals come from acute care hospitals. Digitizing care in HealthSouth's hospitals creates the potential to link its hospitals with the acute care facilities, enabling a more efficient and higher quality patient care process."

Cerner will implement a number of solutions to digitize patient care and improve efficiency in HealthSouth's hospitals. The project includes creating a centralized EHR for patients, ensuring the right people have access to the right information at the right time to improve care. Other solutions that will be implemented include computerized physician order entry (CPOE) and a closed loop medication administration system. Cerner will also provide application management and remote hosting services. A pilot site, Rehabilitation Hospital of Northern Virginia, is currently live with a core suite of Cerner solutions.