In a move expected to lower healthcare costs and enhance service quality for thousands of low-income people, Iowa Primary Care Association (Iowa PCA) has chosen Ignis System to provide electronic lab ordering and results to community health centers across Iowa.

In planning to roll out the GE Centricity electronic medical records systems (EMRs) to 15 health center sites and 170 providers, Iowa PCA and its sister company, INConcertCare, Inc. (INCC), turned for guidance to another large regional community health network, Alliance of Chicago. The Alliance, which recently went through a similar technology upgrade, recommended Ignis Systems' EMR-Link for electronic lab ordering and results.

With a project schedule that involved rolling out the first eight sites in just over six months, and limited IT resources at the sites, Iowa PCA's requirements for a lab interface solution included low support overhead, low demand on IT resources, and a partner that could deliver interfaces on a timely fashion.

According to Ted Boesen, INCC CEO, "[Alliance of Chicago] said one of the prior black holes in their experience was the amount of time it took to develop and manage lab interfaces. We decided to go with Ignis because of Alliance of Chicago's good experience with them, and because of the cost-effectiveness and quality of their solution. EMR-Link saved us a lot of time in developing interfaces, plus ongoing operational maintenance has been very efficient."

Clinical workflow efficiency and provider acceptance were also critical to project success. Kyle Haindfield, INCC's Lead Clinical Implementation Specialist, says provider acceptance has been very positive. "The EMR as a whole was new to most physicians. But once they had clinical data and results at their fingertips, they were quick to see the value. Workflows for communicating results with patients have become very quick. Compared with paper, electronic results are rarely mishandled, so things don't fall through the cracks. Patients get called back with their results in a timely manner, so they don't have to flood the clinic with unnecessary phone calls looking for those results."

When asked for advice to others who need EMR-lab integration, Boesen says: "There is much more involved with developing interfaces than just sending orders and receiving results. Ignis has proven that they understand EMR workflow and can tailor the system to meet users' needs. As far as we're concerned, there's no better option."

About Ignis Systems
Founded in 1999, Ignis Systems Corporation (http://www.ignisssytems.com) provides physician-centric solutions that integrate lab test services within the clinic's EMR. Used at over 300 practices by over 6,000 physicians nationwide, EMR-Link features out-of-the-box integration to the leading national reference labs and over 100 regional and hospital labs throughout the U.S.

About Iowa PCA and INCC
The Iowa Primary Care Association (Iowa PCA, http://www.iowapca.org) and its sister company, INConcertCare, Inc. (INCC), provide technical assistance to the 14 Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHCs) in Iowa, which deliver quality, affordable primary care to more than 180,000 underserved individuals.

Located in Urbandale, Iowa, INConcertCare (INCC), Inc., is a health center controlled network (HCCN). HCCNs are federally recognized networks of safety net providers that collaborate to improve access to care, enhance quality of care, and achieve cost efficiencies through the redesign of practices to integrate services and optimize patient outcomes. INCC includes seven health centers in Iowa and one in Nebraska.

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