Pecos County Memorial Hospital District (Fort Stockton, TX), a Critical Access Hospital serving the residents of rural West Texas, has announced its transition to a unified MEDITECH Expanse EHR using MEDITECH as a Service (MaaS). The cloud-native platform will replace the hospital’s current fragmented software landscape, which includes separate systems for the acute, emergency department, and ambulatory settings.

“Expanse supports our mission to improve the quality of life in the communities we serve by elevating care quality and driving operational efficiency,” said PCMHD CEO Betsy Briscoe.

The scalability of the cloud will help PCMHD grow and maintain its autonomy without the burden of significant hardware investment. Expanse also provides the seamless interoperability required to connect with regional health systems, contributing to better outcomes and improved physician satisfaction.

“With one integrated EHR across care settings, staff will no longer need to navigate between disparate systems to understand the full patient journey. Clinicians who work in both the acute and ambulatory settings will benefit from consistent workflows and greater mobility across the health system,” continued Mrs. Briscoe.

“Modernizing these tools is an important step for our regional health system, which faces ongoing recruitment challenges for nurses and physicians due to its remote rural location,” said PCMHD Chief Nursing Officer Shawn Nethery.

“The new system will provide greater continuity of care and will improve workflow for all departments. The move is expected to increase employee satisfaction and improve communication by enabling us to seamlessly share comprehensive patient data between departments.”

PCMHD is an active member of the Texas Organization of Rural and Community Hospitals (TORCH), an organization focused on building strategic relationships that enhance the effectiveness of its members. The transition to Expanse ensures that the health system has the tools designed to meet that mission by allowing for active patient data sharing with other member organizations. The Expanse EHR system advances interoperability through its Traverse Exchange national data exchange network, which will enable PCMHD to share vital health records with external specialists and other health systems, and make this information immediately available within the clinician’s natural workflow.

“Having Traverse Exchange gather patient data from other sources, and present it to our clinicians, within their day-to-day workflow, will be a critical component to providing effective care to patients across a wide region, some of whom travel up to two hours for services, and may have been seen at other facilities,” says Mrs. Briscoe.

Expanse will also support the hospital’s community-based Level 4 certified trauma emergency department, ensuring rapid, high-quality care for rural patients who might otherwise be hours away from major centers. By maintaining 24/7 board-certified emergency physicians — a rarity for rural facilities — PCMHD bridges a critical gap in emergency care across West Texas.

“Rural healthcare organizations, like Pecos County Memorial Hospital District, are fundamental members of their communities, offering trusted care by providers who know their community and understand their patients,” said MEDITECH Vice President Carol Labadini.

“We are honored to partner with PCMHD to bring the sophisticated tools that enable them to provide the best quality to the patients they serve.”

About MEDITECH

MEDITECH empowers healthcare organizations to expand their vision of what’s possible with Expanse, the intelligent EHR. Expanse provides a future-ready foundation for health systems of all sizes, leveraging the power of AI, cloud computing, and advanced interoperability to support world-class care in 28 countries and territories. Boost clinician satisfaction, patient engagement, and organizational efficiency. Visit ehr.meditech.com and follow us on YouTube, LinkedIn, X, Facebook, Instagram, and Threads.

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