The Manning 'Why'

The Why of the Manning Project – Celebrating Our Successes

Every single person throughout St. Anthony has been impacted by the Manning Hosting Project, whether it be building the system or providing extra grace with EMR requests while we had other things on our plate. You are all incredible, and we thank you from the bottom of our hearts.

Some have questioned as to why St. Anthony chose to host another hospital, and at times the “why” behind the decision may have gotten lost. To understand the ‘why,’ let’s go back to 2009. In 2009, Meaningful Use was enacted with the signing of ARRA and HITECH. The idea of meaningful use was to set a minimum standard of a computer system in health care organizations, and make dollars available to the organizations to offset the costs of implementation. Medical record systems are extremely expensive and hospitals who wanted to enter the digital age now had incentives to do so and eventually would have repercussions if they chose not to enroll. .

It’s been 14 years since ARRA and HITECH, and technology has changed drastically in that amount of time. Over time software products discontinue and users must buy new in order to keep up with regulations. Today, there are no longer Meaningful Use incentives to help rural hospitals purchase new systems or pay millions of dollars in consulting fees to implement a new product. Several rural hospitals simply cannot afford to stay independent, and they sell to the highest bidder and adopt their system, losing some or all of their identity.

At St. Anthony, we believe in independence and strive to be a regional leader in healthcare. We have extended our mission to help bring “Health, Healing, and Hope” and “quality healthcare close to home” to other independent rural hospitals by providing top quality IT services, clinical knowledge, and system expertise to them at an affordable price point.

This project, while incredibly difficult, aligns with the mission and values of St. Anthony, helps our neighbors, and helps position ourselves as a regional leader in Healthcare and IT.

Sandi Cook, Lead Clinical Analyst

Chad Lawson, Director of IT