"Office of the future" selects tech vendor.

Renaissance Health, a Boston-area clinic born in June based on a vision of "the physician office of the future," has taken another step closer to reality. As with a few new built-from-the-ground-up, all-digital hospitals that are springing up around the nation, Renaissance founders knew that their futuristic vision would require broad use of information technology in combination with "a re-conceived notion on how doctors should deliver healthcare."

The clinic, founded by physicians Pranav Kothari and Rushika Fernandopulle, is the prototype of an innovative "model practice" they conceived out of research conducted at Harvard University. The driving philosophy is that tomorrow's practice should incorporate several pro-patient process improvements: easy patient access to their physicians, portable electronic health records and patient notification of personalized preventive health recommendations. The founders envision a largely paperless practice that encourages patient e-mails and cellphone calls to doctors, uses e-prescribing and offers after-hours preventive care education. They also structure the practice in a revolutionary financial and primary care model, in which patients pay $480 per year for an annual membership, and sit on advisory councils that provide ideas for governance of the practice.

After reviewing dozens of vendors, Renaissance announced this fall that it selected Greenway Medical, Carrollton, Ga., as the exclusive technology partner for designing its physician office of the future. Kothari indicated that one of the key reasons Greenway was selected as technology partner is "they offer one integrated system, whereas almost all other EMR systems are interfaced." Greenway's PrimeSuite incorporates practice management, EMR and managed care solutions in one Microsoft .NET-based software solution.

For more about the practice philosophy, visit www.renhealth.net. For more about the technology being put in place, visit Greenway Medical at www.greenway medical.com.