The Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society presented a check for $38,153 this week to the Common Ground Health Clinic in New Orleans. The free clinic in the struggling Algiers section of the city serves needy patients who have little or no health insurance.

“All of us at HIMSS wanted to ensure that the work of Common Ground Health Clinic could continue in New Orleans,” said H. Stephen Lieber, HIMSS president/CEO.  “We recognize the effort our members made to provide the needed assistance to this clinic will help improve the delivery of healthcare as well as the use of technology in the local community.”

The HIMSS monetary donation includes $30,433 from corporate contributions, with the majority coming from McKesson Corporation of San Francisco. McKesson contributed $20,000 to Common Ground at the HIMSS 2007 Annual Conference & Exhibition in New Orleans earlier this year. The donation also includes $7,720 from 54 individuals.

The HIMSS Foundation, the philanthropic arm of the Society, managed all monetary and in-kind donations of software and affiliated services. The Foundation also administers the HIMSS Katrina Phoenix project to help rebuild healthcare facilities destroyed by Hurricane Katrina in 2005.

The Katrina Phoenix project coordinates donations of electronic medical record software and services from healthcare IT vendors to practices in need of assistance. HIMSS also announced that eight other practice sites to-date in Louisiana have benefited from the HIMSS Katrina-Phoenix Project with three practices in various stages of EHR installation or implementation.

“Common Ground Health Clinic graciously accepts all of these donations and we look forward to the continued collaboration with HIMSS and other donors,” Ravi Vadlamudi, MD, Common Ground’s volunteer medical director, said in a statement.

Common Ground Health Clinic is also working with the Louisiana Public Health Institute as part of the Institute’s effort to implement EMRs in the local clinics in New Orleans through collaboration with the Partnership for Access to Healthcare (PATH).

Jim Morrow, MD, a 2005 Ambulatory Care Davies Award recipient and the physician mentor for Common Ground Health Clinic, met with the Common Ground staff during HIMSS07 and conducted an IT needs assessment. Morrow secured a software donation for the clinic’s electronic health record system from Chicago-based vendor Allscripts.

“It has been a pleasure to work with the staff of the Common Ground Health Clinic as they continue to provide quality healthcare treatment and support for the people of New Orleans,” said Dr. Morrow, who is also the chair of the HIMSS EHR committee.  “With an operable EMR in place, the clinic will be able to expand and enhance the treatment provided to their patients.”