Central Washington Family Medicine earns Qualis Healthcare Quality Award

YAKIMA, WA -- June 6, 2005 -- Central Washington Family Medicine (CWFM) has been awarded the 2004 Achievement In Healthcare Quality Award by Qualis Health for its effort in improving the health maintenance of CWFM's patients. CWFM installed the ChartConnect Electronic Medical Records (EMR) system 3 years ago to streamline and better track patient care helping to assure information is not lost or overlooked and also freeing enough staff time to implement programs such as the health maintenance that Qualis has now acknowleged with this award.

"The staff here are pretty proud. They know we've been making them do projects and work and it's nice to see the end result --- to at least get some recognition," said Angela Garza, registrered nurse at CWFM and manager of the facility's quality improvement program.

Central Washington Family Medicine, at 1806 W. Lincoln Ave. in Yakima, Washington, is a nonprofit health center and family practice residency program. About three years ago, one of the residents at the center was working on a project and needed to be able to flag the clinic's diabetic patients, Garza said. At the time, that involved writing the patients information on an index card and placing it in a recipe box. To improve efficiency, the quality improvement team began working on a way to sort
diabetic patient information electronically.

Since then, the clinic has integrated the American Diabetes Association guidelines into its charting system, upgraded nursing software and hardware so that the patient information would be updated, and implemented an "e-Order" function to accelerate lab orders.

"CWFM has been great to work with, helping our ChartConnect designers with many enhancements that benefit all clinics as well as specifically residency programs, said Greg Jewell, CEO of ChartConnect, Inc. Between Angela Garza and Operations Director John Kramer they are constantly coming up with ways to cut keystrokes, saving time and manage patient care."

About Qualis Health
Qualis Health, a private non-profit based in Seattle, gives its award each year. The organization contracts with the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid services and is charged with making sure Medicare patients receive quality, appropriate health care.

About ChartConnect
ChartConnect, Inc., based in Yakima, Washington provides a comprehensive electronic medical record for physician practices and hospitals nationwide. They are the leader in connecting healthcare communities to build the most easy-to-use online patient records available for patient care, anywhere. ChartConnect allows everyone involved in a patient's care to easily and securely access and share information by integrating with local healthcare providers. With full-featured productivity and decision support solutions, ChartConnect offers a complete patient management tool, helping physicians, nurses, and office professionals streamline workflow, save time and money, and improve patient care. ChartConnect, Inc. and its affiliates have provided premier healthcare services - including medical networks, practice management and billing systems - since 1985. Visit www.chartconnect.com or call 877-567-6825 for additional information.