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More P.R. healthcare practitioners adopting e-record technology

The Puerto Rico Primary Care Association recently partnered with Alabama-based SuccessEHS to adopt electronic medical health record technology at participating community health centers, the most recent group of health practitioners to incorporate technology into their operations. The investment was not released.

In total, 12 of the PRPCA’s 17 so-called CHCs — which represent more than 190 health care providers serving more than 261,670 patients in 26 health care delivery offices — have adopted the e-records and integrated medical billing services, SuccessEHS said.

“We are proud to announce the signing of this contract,” said Alicia Suárez, executive director of PRPCA. “As federal funds recipients, we know it is vital for our health systems to adopt new technologies that help improve quality, reduce costs, improve data collection and provide exchange of health information; this new technology will strengthen public health initiatives in Puerto Rico.”

The 12 participating organizations pooled their resources in a global, two-year search for electronic solutions that would best serve their CHC-specific needs, said Dante Rankart, vice president of Federally Qualified Health Center (FQHC) and CHC Sales at SuccessEHS.

“We are very excited to participate in such an innovative and worthwhile health care initiative in Puerto Rico,” said Rankart. “For more than 10 years, SuccessEHS has worked closely with FQHCs across the country and territories to deliver consistent success. We look forward to successful implementations of our advanced EHR solution in Puerto Rico, which we hope will benefit the entire island.”

The PRPCA’s network comprises community-based healthcare organizations located throughout 38 towns, mostly outside the San Juan metropolitan area. The migration to electronic medical records is gaining momentum in Puerto Rico, as health practitioners gear up to meet the 2015 deadline the federal government has given U.S. jurisdictions to comply with a mandate of moving away from paper records.

Allan Cintrón-Salichs, executive director of MedCentro, one of the 12 CHCs to select SuccessEHS, said SuccessEHS will bring his company to the leading edge of healthcare technology.

“We are making a major investment in infrastructure, and SuccessEHS will bring together the digitalization of everything in our health center, from health records to practice management to X-rays, labs and pharmacies,” Cintrón-Salichs said. “As an added value, this technology allows us to open a health center anywhere and manage it centrally, thus reducing costs.”

“In fact, we are opening a new satellite health center in Villalba and SuccessEHS will play a key role in making this center successful,” said Cintrón-Salichs. “We see SuccessEHS not as a supplier, but as a business partner.”

Author Details
Author Details
Business reporter with 30 years of experience writing for weekly and daily newspapers, as well as trade publications in Puerto Rico. My list of former employers includes Caribbean Business, The San Juan Star, and the Puerto Rico Daily Sun, among others. My areas of expertise include telecommunications, technology, retail, agriculture, tourism, banking and most other segments of Puerto Rico’s economy.
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