Texas County Memorial Hospital received $432,500 in grant and loan funds to enhance its electronic medical records.
Seven providers in six states received a total of $7.98 million in distance learning and telemedicine loans and grants. Rural Development funds will be used to provide software for the EMR system, which will integrate existing systems and services provided by staff, such as patient history, physicians’ orders and hospital admissions. EMR systems use technology to improve the speed and accuracy of transmitting medical data to doctors, nurses, hospitals and other medical professionals in rural communities.
“It’s a huge honor for Texas County Memorial Hospital to be a recipient of this telemedicine loan and grant, especially in light of the fact we are one of only seven hospitals in the nation to receive funding in this cycle,” said Wes Murray, chief executive officer at TCMH. “For a rural area where technological advances seem to arrive slowly, this funding will vault us way ahead of the average rural American hospital.”
The funding is to bring electronic medical records to the TCMH clinics in Houston, Licking and Cabool. This will bring a completely new technology into the clinics to increase the quality of patient care through the elimination of the traditional paper charts. In addition, TCMH is hopeful that EMR in the clinics will assist them in recruiting new physicians to work in Texas County; most physicians in training today train using only EMR.
“I appreciate the USDA’s acknowledgement and commitment to rural communities,” Murray said. “Their vision for technology in rural communities complements our vision for technology in our hospital and clinics.”