Here are four things to know.
1. Covenant Health includes members and affiliates in Maine, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, New Hampshire, Rhode Island and Vermont.
2. At present, members of the network are consolidating billing, marketing, human resources, information technology and purchasing, among other administration and back office tasks, according to the report. The goal is not only to cut costs, but also to help fund a new $75 million Epic EMR system.
3. Covenant Health officials anticipate an EMR system go live in November at St. Joseph Healthcare in Bangor, Maine, and St. Joseph Hospital in Nashua, N.H., and a go live in April 2018 at St. Mary’s Health System in Lewiston, Maine, reports the Sun Journal.
4. In addition to consolidating administration and back office tasks, Covenant members are also looking for and adopting best practices, the report states.
“If you imagine sort of guardrails on a road,” St. Mary’s President and CEO Chris Chekouras told the Sun Journal. “So those guardrails are going to be up saying our standard work has to fit within these guardrails. There may be nuances that are required for a particular population that you’re serving, but the work has to fit within those guardrails.”
Read more here.
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