Hospital Subsidizes Software for Docs

HDM Breaking News, April 30, 2008

St. Luke’s Hospital in Maumee, Ohio, will subsidize the cost of integrated TouchWorks physician practice management and electronic health records software from Chicago-based Allscripts LLC for some of its affiliated physicians.

Terms of the subsidy were not immediately disclosed. Hospitals can subsidize up to 85% of the cost of physicians to implement information technology under recent changes to the Stark Law regulations. The hospital is taking advantage of the changes to offer the software. St. Luke’s also may offer to host the software for physicians affiliated with other hospitals in the region to provide a communitywide patient record in the Toledo area.

The hospital will remotely host the software for 100 physicians. Most of them are in independent practices, but a small number are employed at the facility.

St. Luke’s will integrate the applications with inpatient information systems to enable physicians to view the charts, schedules, and laboratory and radiology results of hospitalized patients. The hospital also has licensed and will host Allscripts iHealth, private-labeled personal health records software from San Francisco-based Medem Inc.

More information is available at stlukeshospital.com and allscripts.com.

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