By Janice Kurbjun
Times staff writer
Two years after implementing a new software system, Memorial Hospital of Carbon County staff are on track with digitizing electronic medical records, allowing the hospital to comply with possible federal legislation.
As he began his second term in 2004, President Bush pushed for hospitals, physician offices, nursing homes and other health care facilities to create electronic records. The hope was to create a national medical network that would lead to better accuracy in medical care and “avoid dangerous medical mistakes, reduce costs and improve care,” Bush said.
Four years later, there is little progress. However, some care providers have recognized the value of digital records and have streamlined their systems.
Choosing the health management system software to work toward that end, Memorial Hospital of Carbon County staff are continuing to iron out the bugs. However, Chief Financial Officer Florence Kostic said the software makes record keeping more efficient.
“We had numerous systems — separate lab system, hospital documentation was all done manually and we had a separate radiology system,” she said. “When we made the change in 2004, we moved to the fully integrated system.” Now, most hospital functions can communicate seamlessly despite the ongoing troubleshooting.
Kostic said the national system could be implemented in 2010. In anticipation, hospital staff chose compatible software. Listed as a certified provider of software compliant with national initiatives and with more than 400 users nationwide in 2003, the health management system seemed to be the best option, according to Kostic.
Dr. James Bush, Medicaid medical director at the Wyoming Department of Health, scoffed at the idea that the national system would be up and running by 2010.
“They are just now reaching interoperability standards,” he said, describing the need to standardize databases so different software can easily communicate. “The 2010 deadline is falling by the wayside.”
Still, James Bush realizes the value of a unified network. He is currently working to roll out the red carpet on a statewide Medicaid network, scheduled to launch this summer.
The ongoing question of privacy in health records has slowed national progress toward a fully electronic system, and it has not been ignored by staff at Memorial Hospital of Carbon County. The privacy rule of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act prevents full access to patient records by care providers, making the security of software systems a hot ticket in debates.
Terry Webster, director of health information management at the hospital, said hospitals get paranoid when information is put on a computer. “But there’s the same worry when it’s on paper,” she said.
Webster recently came to Rawlins from a Montana hospital that was part of a four-hospital network. The Meditech system they used prohibited access unless the patient provided an access code for their records. James Bush said that with patient confidentiality at the top of the list of priorities, software providers are nearly guaranteed to safeguard their systems.
Kostic listed another problem area in the ambitious project — the question of care providers being technologically savvy. “Many physicians’ offices aren’t able to purchase the sophisticated equipment that is required, so how will they fit into the network?” she asked.
James Bush said that when care providers, no matter how tech savvy, see the benefits of an integrated system, they will jump on board. “It is one of those true win-win situations,” he said of the developing Medicaid system.
State to go digital as well
Wyoming Department of Health officials are set to launch the “total health record” this summer, the state’s version of an electronic program centered around Medicaid patient care.
Headed by Dr. James Bush, the Medicaid medical director at the Department of Health, the statewide program should open the door for the state to more efficiently allocate its resources and maximize its care. Bush said the program also benefits patients and care providers.
Wyoming has the chance to be a national leader in implementing electronic medical records, Bush said. This is particularly due to the state’s small population, making it easier to implement a centralized system.
The Medicaid program should be administered by the software company Cyber Access. The main goal is to promote a patient-centered medical home, Bush said. It would push patients to get most of their care from a general physician, promoting preventative care and ideally reducing instances of large Medicaid claims that come with dramatic health problems.
Phase one, electronic billing, has been implemented, Bush said, with participation from 20 clinics. The system should be offered for implementation in physician offices with the highest percentage of Medicaid patients.
Thursday, February 14, 2008
A world away, Filipino nurses make Rawlins home
By Janice Kurbjun
Times staff writer
In 2003, a small contingent of Filipino health care professionals found themselves transplanted to the tiny blip on the world map known as Rawlins.
About 7,500 miles away from home, Sherry Longog and Angie Colson stepped onto a small plane in Denver to head to Rock Springs. It would be one of the last legs of their long voyage to begin work as lab technologists at Memorial Hospital of Carbon County. One from the southern Philippines and one from the northern part of the archipelago, Longog and Colson were missing home, but at least they had each other.
“We knew there were mountains,” Colson said. “We looked it up before coming. But we were looking down from the plane and wondering why there were no houses or buildings. Who were going to be our patients? We thought the hospital was on top of the mountains.”
Landing in Rock Springs, the pair finished out the trip along Interstate 80. “When we got here,” Colson said with a laugh, “it wasn’t so bad — the hospital wasn’t on top of the mountains.”
More health care professionals are being produced in the Philippines than the country can use, so many often work abroad. A 2004 report by Health Affairs listed the nation as the leading source for nurses being recruited by countries such as the United States, the United Kingdom and New Zealand.
“Filipino nurses are in great demand because they are primarily educated in college-degree programs and communicate well in English,” the report read. Receiving countries can therefore expand health care work forces, which have been notoriously shorthanded for years, Professional Healthcare Resources recruiting agency wrote.
The trade is reciprocal: New recruits often send home remittance income, bolstering the Philippines’ economy. Health Affairs reported that in 2004, Filipinos living abroad sent more than $800 million back home.
Longog said hers and Colson’s agency, then known as Agape, recruited physical therapists, nurses and technologists. Memorial Hospital of Carbon County’s two Filipino nurses, Suzette Enriquez and Jeraldine Lebanan, came through Troy Professionals. The two nurses are now friends, but have much different stories.
Lebanan did not originally want to come to the U.S., but knew she had the opportunity to gain the duel benefit of getting out of financial trouble, while simultaneously fulfilling her lifelong dream of having a child. Of all the Filipinos still at the hospital, Lebanan had the most difficulty adjusting.
“I had a hard time,” she said. “If I had to choose, I’d work in the Philippines because I’m used to it and my friends are there and I can speak my native language.” Lebanan worked in the Philippines for 11 years prior to moving.
On the other end of the spectrum, Enriquez took full advantage of the opportunity to go abroad. “It was my dream since I was a little kid to come to the U.S.,” she said. While waiting for her application to go through, she worked in Saudi Arabia’s Turaif Government Hospital for three years.
Culturally shocking for a woman accustomed to equal rights, Saudi Arabia was a good experience for Enriquez. “I went there to experience working there and (meet people of) other nationalities,” she said. “The language was very hard, though. I didn’t know it before going. I carried a dictionary, but it didn’t help. I just learned (Arabic) by speaking to patients.” Finally, in 2003, she got the chance to come to the U.S.
Of the more than 10 Filipino nursing and technologist recruit to pass through Memorial Hospital of Carbon County, these four remain. Many departed after their three-year contracts were complete, hospital Human Resources Director Beverly Young said. The four have stayed at least two years longer than their contracts lasted.
“(These four) have developed within the community,” Young said. “They’ve bought homes, they’ve had children, they’ve married... they’ve integrated into the community.”
Times staff writer
In 2003, a small contingent of Filipino health care professionals found themselves transplanted to the tiny blip on the world map known as Rawlins.
About 7,500 miles away from home, Sherry Longog and Angie Colson stepped onto a small plane in Denver to head to Rock Springs. It would be one of the last legs of their long voyage to begin work as lab technologists at Memorial Hospital of Carbon County. One from the southern Philippines and one from the northern part of the archipelago, Longog and Colson were missing home, but at least they had each other.
“We knew there were mountains,” Colson said. “We looked it up before coming. But we were looking down from the plane and wondering why there were no houses or buildings. Who were going to be our patients? We thought the hospital was on top of the mountains.”
Landing in Rock Springs, the pair finished out the trip along Interstate 80. “When we got here,” Colson said with a laugh, “it wasn’t so bad — the hospital wasn’t on top of the mountains.”
More health care professionals are being produced in the Philippines than the country can use, so many often work abroad. A 2004 report by Health Affairs listed the nation as the leading source for nurses being recruited by countries such as the United States, the United Kingdom and New Zealand.
“Filipino nurses are in great demand because they are primarily educated in college-degree programs and communicate well in English,” the report read. Receiving countries can therefore expand health care work forces, which have been notoriously shorthanded for years, Professional Healthcare Resources recruiting agency wrote.
The trade is reciprocal: New recruits often send home remittance income, bolstering the Philippines’ economy. Health Affairs reported that in 2004, Filipinos living abroad sent more than $800 million back home.
Longog said hers and Colson’s agency, then known as Agape, recruited physical therapists, nurses and technologists. Memorial Hospital of Carbon County’s two Filipino nurses, Suzette Enriquez and Jeraldine Lebanan, came through Troy Professionals. The two nurses are now friends, but have much different stories.
Lebanan did not originally want to come to the U.S., but knew she had the opportunity to gain the duel benefit of getting out of financial trouble, while simultaneously fulfilling her lifelong dream of having a child. Of all the Filipinos still at the hospital, Lebanan had the most difficulty adjusting.
“I had a hard time,” she said. “If I had to choose, I’d work in the Philippines because I’m used to it and my friends are there and I can speak my native language.” Lebanan worked in the Philippines for 11 years prior to moving.
On the other end of the spectrum, Enriquez took full advantage of the opportunity to go abroad. “It was my dream since I was a little kid to come to the U.S.,” she said. While waiting for her application to go through, she worked in Saudi Arabia’s Turaif Government Hospital for three years.
Culturally shocking for a woman accustomed to equal rights, Saudi Arabia was a good experience for Enriquez. “I went there to experience working there and (meet people of) other nationalities,” she said. “The language was very hard, though. I didn’t know it before going. I carried a dictionary, but it didn’t help. I just learned (Arabic) by speaking to patients.” Finally, in 2003, she got the chance to come to the U.S.
Of the more than 10 Filipino nursing and technologist recruit to pass through Memorial Hospital of Carbon County, these four remain. Many departed after their three-year contracts were complete, hospital Human Resources Director Beverly Young said. The four have stayed at least two years longer than their contracts lasted.
“(These four) have developed within the community,” Young said. “They’ve bought homes, they’ve had children, they’ve married... they’ve integrated into the community.”
Long break is not what SHS wanted
By Janice Kurbjun
Times staff writer
The Saratoga High School boys basketball team may as well be coming off winter holiday as it heads into Thursday’s game against Hanna Elk Mountain Medicine Bow.
After a host of games were canceled due to weather and no plans to reschedule them have emerged, the HEM game is Saratoga’s last chance to prepare for the conference tournament.
“We will know on Thursday what we need to work on,” Saratoga coach Rex Hohnholt said. “I try to get the kids in game-like situations, but when you’re just playing one another, you know, our kids know all the plays.”
Hohnholt said he is lucky to have players who give their best in every practice. Although the Panther seniors were disappointed not to participate in senior night, which was scheduled during one of the canceled games, they are ready for their final regular season game.
Tipping off at 8 p.m. in the HEM gym, Saratoga expects to face its opponent’s best effort. Panther coach Rex Hohnholt pointed out that he has one 6-foot-3-inch player who can match up with one of the “big guys” on the Miner team, but his team’s lack of height leaves him with a poor pair when trying to cover the other half of the Matt Larson-Justin Palm duo.
The county rivals may not be well matched in terms of height, but even with the discrepancy, Saratoga has managed to come out on top in prior meetings this season.
Saratoga leads its conference as the No. 1 seed going into the conference tournament, which starts on Thursday, Feb. 21.
Times staff writer
The Saratoga High School boys basketball team may as well be coming off winter holiday as it heads into Thursday’s game against Hanna Elk Mountain Medicine Bow.
After a host of games were canceled due to weather and no plans to reschedule them have emerged, the HEM game is Saratoga’s last chance to prepare for the conference tournament.
“We will know on Thursday what we need to work on,” Saratoga coach Rex Hohnholt said. “I try to get the kids in game-like situations, but when you’re just playing one another, you know, our kids know all the plays.”
Hohnholt said he is lucky to have players who give their best in every practice. Although the Panther seniors were disappointed not to participate in senior night, which was scheduled during one of the canceled games, they are ready for their final regular season game.
Tipping off at 8 p.m. in the HEM gym, Saratoga expects to face its opponent’s best effort. Panther coach Rex Hohnholt pointed out that he has one 6-foot-3-inch player who can match up with one of the “big guys” on the Miner team, but his team’s lack of height leaves him with a poor pair when trying to cover the other half of the Matt Larson-Justin Palm duo.
The county rivals may not be well matched in terms of height, but even with the discrepancy, Saratoga has managed to come out on top in prior meetings this season.
Saratoga leads its conference as the No. 1 seed going into the conference tournament, which starts on Thursday, Feb. 21.
School board to meet
Wyoming Department of Health officials are set to launch the “total health record” this summer, the state’s version of an electronic program centered around Medicaid patient care.
Headed by Dr. James Bush, the Medicaid medical director at the Department of Health, the statewide program should open the door for the state to more efficiently allocate its resources and maximize its care. Bush said the program also benefits patients and care providers.
Wyoming has the chance to be a national leader in implementing electronic medical records, Bush said. This is particularly due to the state’s small population, making it easier to implement a centralized system.
The Medicaid program should be administered by the software company Cyber Access. The main goal is to promote a patient-centered medical home, Bush said. It would push patients to get most of their care from a general physician, promoting preventative care and ideally reducing instances of large Medicaid claims that come with dramatic health problems.
Phase one, electronic billing, has been implemented, Bush said, with participation from 20 clinics. The system should be offered for implementation in physician offices with the highest percentage of Medicaid patients.
Headed by Dr. James Bush, the Medicaid medical director at the Department of Health, the statewide program should open the door for the state to more efficiently allocate its resources and maximize its care. Bush said the program also benefits patients and care providers.
Wyoming has the chance to be a national leader in implementing electronic medical records, Bush said. This is particularly due to the state’s small population, making it easier to implement a centralized system.
The Medicaid program should be administered by the software company Cyber Access. The main goal is to promote a patient-centered medical home, Bush said. It would push patients to get most of their care from a general physician, promoting preventative care and ideally reducing instances of large Medicaid claims that come with dramatic health problems.
Phase one, electronic billing, has been implemented, Bush said, with participation from 20 clinics. The system should be offered for implementation in physician offices with the highest percentage of Medicaid patients.
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