Case Study: Northeast Alabama Regional Medical Center improves EHR adoption and reduces patient wait times with Veradigm

Bridging the clinical-IT gap with outsourced expertise

Northeast Alabama Regional Medical Center (RMC), a community-based health system in Alabama, faced a significant disconnect between its clinical and IT teams. This gap was causing physician frustration with the EHR system and preventing the organization from optimizing its technology. To address this challenge, RMC engaged the vendor Veradigm (formerly Allscripts) for a strategic review of its IT initiatives and to leverage their clinical IT expertise.

Veradigm provided an interim Chief Medical Informatics Officer, Dr. Stanley Sinkford, who bridged the gap by listening to staff and identifying key workflow issues. The Veradigm team implemented specific solutions, including making a co-morbidity field mandatory in the EHR to capture lost reimbursements and creating customized documentation templates for the emergency department. These efforts led to measurable results, including a 25% reduction in average patient length of stay, a 16% decrease in admission wait times from the ER, and significantly increased provider satisfaction.

Northeast Alabama Regional Medical Center

Stanley Sinkford

Chief Medical Informatics Officer