Relationship expands from supporting existing system on Northern Mariana Islands to installing more functionally rich, expandable healthcare IT platform

Saipan, Northern Mariana Islands, and Carlsbad, CA—Medsphere Systems Corporation, the leading provider of affordable and interoperable healthcare IT platform solutions, today announced that the Commonwealth Healthcare Corporation (CHCC) will implement the company’s CareVue electronic health record (EHR) and revenue cycle management (RCM) platform. Based on Saipan, the capital of the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, CHCC is the primary organizer of acute and ambulatory healthcare services for the islands of Rota, Saipan and Tinian.

In recent years, CHCC and Medsphere have enjoyed a mutually beneficial relationship oriented around a legacy healthcare IT system that CHCC used and Medsphere supported. The upgrade to CareVue will provide CHCC with the same base functionality they know plus numerous Medsphere-engineered upgrades. With CareVue, CHCC clinicians will have access to modern graphical user interfaces, essential clinical functionality and a suite of pre-built interfaces to third-party applications and devices. The addition of the RCM suite will also give CHCC a firmer grasp on organizational revenues and expenditures.     

“We’ve always appreciated the responsive development and support Medsphere has provided for our legacy EHR system,” said CHCC CEO Esther L. Muña, MHA, CPC. “With that foundational relationship, it was natural to make the leap to CareVue. Our entire staff is looking forward to the new tools and automated clinical support, and we’re confident that a better system will create improved patient care.”

The ongoing relationship between Medsphere and CHCC creates clear benefits for the healthcare system. Familiar with existing CHCC workflows, personnel and environment, Medsphere can knowingly recommend optimal implementation configurations, timelines and staffing needs while still supporting the existing EHR system. When the time is right, cutting over to the populated production CareVue system should be relatively painless.

“Medsphere is very happy that we can continue this relationship with Commonwealth Healthcare and the citizens of the Northern Mariana Islands,” said Irv Lichtenwald, Medsphere president and CEO. “In total, Medsphere’s presence in the South Pacific, which includes our clients in American Samoa, demonstrates our ability to provide a fully functional and reliable system that does not undermine other crucial healthcare expenditures. Where other health systems are suspending healthcare initiatives to pay for IT, CHCC is not, and we applaud the wisdom of this decision.”

Across the three primary islands in the Northern Marianas chain, CHCC is the source of virtually all healthcare services, which are comprehensive. Through a hospital division on Saipan and health centers on Rota and Tinian, CHCC provides for inpatient, ambulatory, urgent and emergent care needs, as well as behavioral health and addiction treatment.

About Commonwealth Healthcare Corporation

The sole hospital in the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI) was initially established as the Department of Public Health and Environmental Services in 1978. In 2009, the Department of Public Health and Environmental Services was re-organized into a government corporation. The Commonwealth Healthcare Corporation (CHCC) commenced operations in late 2011.

The corporation is governed by a Board of Trustees, currently headed by Chairwoman Lauri Ogumoro, and led by Chief Executive Officer Esther Muña. The CHCC is an integrated healthcare system, encompassing most healthcare services in the CNMI.

Steps have been taken over the last few years to improve the scope of services offered, and the CHCC now has improved and modern equipment and specialist providers, including a podiatrist, psychiatrist, and ENT (ear, nose, and throat) doctor. The CHCC employs 700+ people across all divisions.