Siemens, Arkansas complete $10M agreement for Soarian health IT solution

Siemens recently completed a 10-year, $10 million agreement, which included $4.8 million of financing, with Arkansas Heart Hospital for the acquisition and implementation of the Soarian® healthcare information technology (IT) solution. Arkansas Heart Hospital is a nationally recognized and award-winning hospital dedicated to the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of cardiovascular disease. The hospital already maintains a deep modality relationship with Siemens, and the new Soarian business was able to be completed with a tailored financing arrangement that was brokered through Siemens Financial Services (SFS). Siemens Financial Services has expertise in creating financing agreements in key business areas such as energy, healthcare, industry, and infrastructure and cities. In today's healthcare market, hospitals that do not have electronic health records (EHRs) are quickly implementing in order to comply with the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services EHR Incentive Program, otherwise known as "Meaningful Use." Siemens is a leader in delivering health IT solutions and financing packages to help customers take advantage of these incentives.

"As the EHR Incentive Program continues to move forward, Arkansas Heart Hospital realized the need to work with a partner who can help us structure the purchase of an enterprise EHR, and who can help us implement that solution without jeopardizing our operating expenses and thus our ability to continually provide high-quality care," said Bruce Murphy, MD, PhD, president and CEO, Arkansas Heart Hospital. "Siemens is now our single vendor solution for diagnostic modalities, imaging IT and, now, healthcare IT. Siemens helped us structure this contract and our implementation to support our continued objectives to deliver outstanding cardiovascular care."

Arkansas Heart Hospital purchased a full suite of Soarian Clinicals and Soarian Financials, as well as Siemens Pharmacy, Med Administration Check™, Soarian Analytics, HDX™ for eligibility and remittances, and more. The hospital will use these solutions to comply with the CMS EHR Incentive Program as well as to meet key quality measures for improved patient safety. The Soarian solutions are also expected to help create opportunities to improve staff and physician access to patient information, and to support improved clinical workflows.

"The implementation of electronic health records by healthcare providers like Arkansas Heart Hospital will help increase the accuracy, speed, and availability of information about a patient for care givers all along the healthcare delivery chain," said Gary Amos, head of Americas region for the Commercial Finance business unit of SFS. "This should help improve patient care and lower healthcare costs by eliminating redundant testing, avoiding harmful medication interactions, and streamlining healthcare administrative tasks."