OAK GROVE, LA – West Carroll Memorial Hospital, a 33-bed hospital in northeast Louisiana that is part of a health information exchange project, is rolling out an enterprise-wide electronic medical record.

West Carroll Memorial is using Minneapolis-based Healthland's physician practice management application. Financial management and clinical EMR applications are expected to go live in the coming months.

The hospital selected technology from Healthland, which is working with other hospitals that are part of  the Louisiana Rural Hospital Coalition (LARHC).

Officials at West Carroll Memorial, which serves residents in northeast Louisiana and southeast Arkansas, selected Healthland's system after it was awarded a RHIO (Regional Health Information Organization) grant managed by the Louisiana Rural Health Information Exchange (LaRHIX). With the new system, West Carroll Memorial now has telemedicine capabilities with Louisiana State University, enabling LSU physicians to consult and treat patients remotely.

"EMR, health information exchange and telemedicine is the future of healthcare," said Randy Morris, West Carroll Memorial Hospital's CEO and LARHC's president. "EMR alone is not enough; the access of medical records must go beyond the walls of each facility to all healthcare venues. Information exchange among all clinicians is essential to quality patient care, something Healthland truly understands."

Morris said the hospital planned its EMR system across West Carroll Health Systems – in the hospital, clinics, home health and adult care facilities.

LaRHIX was created to support Louisiana's health information technology initiatives in rural areas. The organization's key technology, the LaRHIX portal, is an Internet-based health information system that gives healthcare professionals access to patient records from any provider database that is connected to the network. The health information exchange allows West Carroll Memorial Hospital to share patient information with LSU, enabling real-time diagnosis and treatment and eliminating the need for patients to travel hundreds of miles for specialized care.

Healthland's solutions enable information exchange by providing a single patient chart for the entire healthcare community, including data from a hospital visit, clinic appointment, long-term care stay or home health call. The information is recorded electronically and accessible in real time.