Hot Springs Health Program Impelements EMR Without Broadband

Hot Springs Health Program, headquartered in Marshall, NC, overcame a few obstacles and implemented their Electronic Medical Record system without complete broadband access.

Rolling out an electronic medical record system is fraught with difficulties, from workflow disruptions to physician resistance to patient anxiety to financing (at least until the government's stimulus program kicks in to help defray the cost).

And if there's no broadband Internet access, the list gets longer. That was the situation for Hot Springs Health Program when it rolled out an EMR system three years ago to its four medical centers. As the only healthcare provider in Madison County, N.C., Hot Springs Health's four medical centers play a key role in the lives of the county's 20,000 people who are spread over 457 square miles.