Baptist Health is first stand-alone health provider to become founding partner of Shaping our Appalachian Region effort

Baptist Health has become the first stand-alone health-care provider to sign on as a founding partner in Shaping Our Appalachian Region, an initiative to improve the economy of Eastern Kentucky.

Baptist will work with SOAR to develop and implement health and education initiatives for residents of Appalachian Kentucky and has committed $150,000 to the initiative over the next three years, the organizations said in a press release.

“Baptist Health understands Eastern Kentucky because we have a proven and time-honored commitment to the health and well-being of our people,” Stephen C. Hanson, chief executive officer of Baptist Health, said in the press release. “Our participation in SOAR reflects this pledge. Besides Richmond, we’ve also got hospitals in Corbin and Lexington, along with outpatient facilities, doctors’ offices and other services all over Eastern Kentucky, the rest of the commonwealth and indeed throughout the region."

The University of Kentucky was the first founding sponsor of SOAR, pledging $300,000 over the next three years and winning the right to use the UK HealthCare brand on SOAR materials as well as the university's general logo.

Gov. Steve Beshear and Congressman Hal Rogers formed SOAR in the fall of 2013 to create strategic plans to improve Eastern Kentucky's economy and quality of life.

“Our primary objective is creating and maintaining jobs across eastern Kentucky, and in order to do that, we need a healthy and well-educated workforce,” Beshear said in the release. “I’m pleased that Baptist Health understands the key connections among our efforts and the critical role that health will play in the future of this region."

UK, Central Baptist get millions in federal incentives to use electronic health records

University of Kentucky HealthCare and Central Baptist Hospital in Lexington are the first hospital systems in the United States to receive funds from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services' electronic health records incentive program.

UK received $2.8 million, Central Baptist $1.3 million, according to a press release from the state Cabinet for Health and Family Services. Kentucky is one of only four states to begin receiving the federal dollars, which are meant to encourage hospitals and physicians to transition to computerized patient records. The funds are part of the 2009 economic-stimulus legislation.

Another 25 Kentucky providers have started the application process. In the next four years, Kentucky hospitals should receive more than $100 million in incentive funds, the release states. "Electronic records can do so much to improve efficiency, reduce medical error and, ultimately, change the face of the American health care system," Gov. Steve Beshear said.

Kentucky is among the first to receive the funding because its providers were "farthest along in the process in moving down the path to adopting these types of systems," said Beth Fisher, spokeswoman for the Cabinet for Health and Family Services. "This means we're pretty far ahead than a lot of other states." (Read more from Business First; for the original press release, go here.)