Wired IN hospital system adds express check-in system

Indianapolis, IN-based Community Health Network was already more wired than the majority of health systems out there before its latest announcement. Community Health, a five-hospital system with 70 primary care practices, offers a website offering access to a PHR, online bill payment, online physician appointment scheduling, pre-registration and live nurse chats. The system has also developed a mobile version of their site offering its key functions to smart phone and PDA users.

Having done all of this, Community Health has decided to go further. The system has unveiled a new kiosk-based system offering express check-in to patients who register for its credit-card-sized "myCommunity" card, using technology from NCR. The MyCommunity service, which took about three years and $1.2 million to develop, also provides blogs for new parents or long-term patients, a gallery to post photos for loved ones and other social networking-style features.

The rollout also includes an online patient health record (the system's release stops short of calling it an EMR) which will include prescription information, allergies, insurance and emergency contacts and recent results for EKGs performed in the emergency department.

To learn more about this installation:
- read this Indianapolis Star article
- read this Community Health press release

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