| Clinics
ask for patience in changeover
The St. Mary’s Hospital clinics are requesting patience while they switch to their new Meditech Software System in early February. 
“Our new system requires additional patient information and an update on prior information so we’re asking our patients to arrive a little early for their next appointment so our admissions staff can input it into our new system,” said Theresa Uptmor, SMH Clinics Coordinator. “Our clinics in Kamiah, Cottonwood and Craigmont will be switching to the new system. We will gather the information from our Nezperce Medical Clinic patients using a paper form and input it a little later. I hope our patients will be patient with us as we modernize our systems.” Patients are encouraged to bring in their social security number, their spouse and children’s social security numbers, their home, work and cell phone numbers, their spouses contact phone numbers and any address changes. The clinics have been inputting a few test cases recently with success, but the actual ‘Go Live’ date won’t occur until all the bugs have been worked out sometime in early February . “A test run means that we’re running our old system simultaneously with Meditech so that we can test the new system with no danger of losing records from the old system,” said Larry Kidd, SMH Chief Operating Officer. According to Kidd, future inpatient and outpatient billings will look a bit different. We believe they will be more user friendly, he said. The $1.2 million Meditech software system will eventually include electronic medical records. The cost is being shared by Clearwater Valley Hospital with the Meditech Corporation based in the Boston area offering the two facilities a ‘two for one’ program. The system is being partially underwritten by a number of grants and a federal appropriation. The hospitals have already gone live with the purchasing and accounts payable modules. The Medicare and Medicaid claims module is also slated to ‘go live’ in early February. Later in 2006 the Pharmacy, Radiology, Lab, Order Entry and Executive Support System will be initiated. Eventually, all patient records will be available electronically. “We will not be scanning in past records, but all new information will be inputted electronically so providers will have instantaneous access to patient records no matter where they are seen within our system or within other facilities that use the Meditech software system,” said Kidd. Over 1800 hospitals, worldwide, use Meditech, including St. Joseph’s Regional Medical Center in Lewiston. |
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