Thundermist CEO Addresses Senate Conference on Health Information Technology
Press Release
Maria Montanaro Shares Benefits of Electronic Records for Low-Income Patients
Maria Montanaro, CEO of the Woonsocket-based community health center Thundermist, addressed the Senate Steering Committee on Telehealth and Healthcare Informatics today to discuss her organization's transition to electronic medical records. U.S. Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) introduced Montanaro at the event, titled "HIT Projects to Improve Access for Low Income Persons and the Uninsured: Safety Net Providers Step up To the Plate."
"I think there is something truly inspiring about a safety net provider who defies the status quo, even in the face of terrible financial disincentives, to invest in state-of-the-art technology to provide the highest-quality care for those who have fallen through the cracks," said Whitehouse, an honorary co-chair of the steering committee. "And Thundermist was careful to create their new infrastructure the right way - in cooperation with larger statewide projects in health information technology, advancing the goal of a statewide health information data exchange system."
Thundermist Health Center is a private, non-profit community health center (CHC) in Rhode Island that serves over 25,000 patients through more than 100,000 comprehensive primary health care visits a year in three communities Woonsocket, West Warwick, and South County. A 2007 study published in Health Affairs indicated that only 26 percent of CHCs reported some usage of electronic medical records, many citing lack of capital as a major barrier to adoption. Montanaro is leading Thundermist's transition from paper to electronic health records in order to better serve patients at its eight health center sites throughout Rhode Island.
Last year, Whitehouse introduced legislation to establish a private, non-profit corporation tasked with developing a national, interoperable, secure health IT system (S. 1455). In January, he called on President George W. Bush to increase federal funding for health information technology in the federal budget for Fiscal Year 2009, to help speed the development of a national health IT system.
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