March 17, 2008Contact: Susan Brandt, (434) 200.4731
Virginia Gov. Timothy M. Kaine visited Centra today to highlight Centra’s quality achievements and an innovative pilot project that expands the use of electronic health records for cardiology patients.
“I congratulate the health care professionals at Centra and the American College of Cardiology for their vision and creative teamwork to expand the use of electronic health records,” said Governor Kaine. “This is yet another example of Virginia leading the way in driving improved health care at lower costs through the use of health information technology.”
Gov. Kaine was joined by John Brush, M.D., Governor of Virginia for the American College of Cardiology Board of Governors, in congratulating Centra and touring Centra’s cardiac pavilion and new East Tower at Centra Lynchburg General Hospital with George W. Dawson, Centra president and CEO.
“Time and time again,” said Dr. Brush, “the ACC has looked to the Lynchburg cardiology community for national leadership, and we are here today to again recognize their leadership and to recognize a trailblazing effort.”
“This is a major honor,” said Dawson, “and we are pleased to have Gov. Kaine and Dr. Brush here today to highlight the work we are doing at Centra. I am proud Centra continues to earn national recognition for quality, leadership and innovation.”
Dawson said Centra recently was recognized among the top 1 percent of hospitals in the country for quality and efficiency by Premier CareScience, a national health care alliance. Centra is one of fewer than 50 health care organizations nationwide—and the only health care system in Virginia—to receive Premier CareScience’s Select Practice award in 2007 and 2006.
Centra also holds nursing’s highest honor as a Magnet hospital, ranking as one of the country’s top cardiovascular hospitals, The Society of Thoracic Surgeons’ highest rating for quality in cardiac surgery, patient satisfaction scores in the top quartile in the nation and ranking as a national mentor for hospitals across the country in the Institute for Healthcare Improvement’s 5 Million Lives Campaign.
In February, Centra received a highly-competitive state health information technology grant from the governor’s office to expand the use of electronic health records for cardiology patients in the region. Dawson said Centra will use the $150,000 grant to gather outpatient cardiac electronic medical records in a program that is expected to become a national model.
The grant money will help produce an automated data mining collection and electronic submission tool. The data-retrieval system will link to the American College of Cardiology’s Program for Improving Continuous Cardiac Care, which offers access to best practices information about outpatient heart care. Dawson said the project will help Centra track all cardiology patients, both inpatient and outpatient, as part of a national database. Centra will be one of the first in the country to do this.
Dr. Brush said the project supports quality initiatives, provides interoperability between the hospital and office-based practices and offers an opportunity to study the continuity of care across practice settings.
“Centra’s grant will help us understand how practices can use the registry for maximum return at minimum cost,” Brush said. “Real world experience and pilot studies will help us get to the next step where every practice in every community routinely collects data to document the quality of their work. This grant is critically important and will help advance the science of quality improvement.”
Jack Lewin, M.D., CEO of the American College of Cardiology, said, “As the professional home of our nation’s cardiologists, the ACC is in a unique position to provide our members with reliable information and assessment of their clinical performance. We appreciate Centra’s medical expertise and their strong commitment to quality and Gov. Kaine’s support of this important pilot project.”
