GreenCastle

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

June 18, 2007

Greencastle, Christiana Care announce collaboration
on ambulatory EMR roll-out

Consulting firm providing project management, organizational change services
as physician group standardizes, expands its electronic medical record systems

MALVERN, Penn. — June 18, 2007 — Greencastle Consulting, a project management and consulting services firm focused on clinical transformation through healthcare information technology, today announced its latest project with long-time client, Christiana Care Health System, Wilmington, Del., one of the mid-Atlantic region’s largest not-for profit healthcare providers.

Under the agreement, Greencastle is providing project management, organizational change and governance structure services in support of Christiana Care’s roll-out of the GE Centricity ambulatory electronic medical record (EMR) system to its recently re-organized physician group, Medical Group of Christiana Care. Overall, the implementation will reach approximately 300 physicians at 40 medical practices throughout northern Delaware and beyond.

“I continue to be impressed with Greencastle because they keep the clinical customer, the vendor team and all other stakeholders focused and moving towards the goal,” said Christiana Care CIO Steve Hess. “With this endeavor, it’s really about organizational development, pulling the governance structure together, aligning resources around the implementation, and trying to get everyone to understand their roles more clearly. There’s a lot of heavy lifting here. I see Greencastle as better able to manage significant complexities and to help us attain the value from our technology implementations than traditional project management firms.”

The ambulatory EMR project, initiated in July 2006, is scheduled for completion by the end of 2008. The first sites went live in April. “It’s still early to start talking about clinical results,” explained Hess. “But from the perspective of organizational planning, governance, and getting all the right people aligned toward our vision and goals, we’ve experienced a lot of success so far.”

“Christiana Care takes a broad view of technology and its implementation. They think differently and they get results,” said Mark Stabile, a senior partner at Greencastle. “For instance, over a three-year period, they reduced emergency department (ED) length of stay for admitted patients by 11 percent, patients leaving the ED without treatment by 23 percent, and bed-clean turnaround time by 28 percent. Meanwhile, patient volume increased by 7 percent. We’re proud of our relationship with Christiana Care, and this project is another milestone in their long-term transformation.” 

Since 2003, Greencastle has worked with Christiana Care on a wide variety of clinical transformation projects ranging from laying the groundwork for the current technology infrastructure, to implementing an emergency department information system, to upgrading its clinical documentation system.

Concurrently, Greencastle is assisting Christiana Care with electronic medical administration record system (eMAR) and perioperative RFID projects.

“The bottom line is that we couldn’t just turn to any project management firm and be successful,” concluded Hess. “It takes expertise, fortitude and some different skills and methods. Greencastle handles all of that and we’ve done some great work together.”

About Christiana Care

Christiana Care Health System, which dates back to 1888, is one of the region's largest not-for profit health care providers, serving the people of Delaware as well as neighboring Maryland, Pennsylvania and New Jersey. A teaching hospital, Christiana Care is recognized as a regional center for excellence in cardiology, cancer and women's health services, as well as Level-I trauma care and Level-3 neonatal intensive care (both highest intensity). Christiana Care operates two hospitals, transitional care services, preventive medicine and rehabilitation services, a network of primary care physician offices and an extensive range of outpatient and home health services. Christiana Care provided $32.4 million of charity care last year.

About Greencastle Consulting

Greencastle Consulting delivers change leadership and execution experience for complex healthcare projects, including IT-driven clinical transformation. From readiness assessment through roll out, Greencastle guides organizations in visualizing objectives, generating impact as planned and maximizing the value of investments. Through advanced techniques, process improvement, leveraging human capital, group dynamics and training, Greencastle’s services can multiply the effectiveness of your existing clinical, business and technological resources. Founded in 1997, Greencastle serves healthcare exclusively. Greencastle consultants apply management methodologies that lead to greater workflow efficiency and ensure the outcomes of technology-based quality initiatives. Learn more at www.GreencastleConsulting.com.