Sandstone's hospital now is connected to the rest of Essentia Health's electronic medical records system.
The connection with Essentia Health-Sandstone was made on Sunday, the health system announced.
The electronic records system was one of the issues in sometimes contentious talks last year over whether the lease between Essentia and the North Pine Area Hospital District to run the 25-bed critical access hospital would be renewed. The hospital district's board wanted to keep its own records system, but the board agreed to accept Essentia's as part of the new three-year lease agreement that was signed on Aug. 30.
Essentia's records software, known as Encompass, is provided by Epic Systems Inc. of Verona, Wis. It puts the Sandstone records system on the same software as Essentia uses at hospitals and clinics in the Duluth, Brainerd and Fargo, N.D., areas, an Essentia news release noted.
A team of 80 Encompass trainers and Essentia experts are on the scene in Sandstone for the first two weeks to make sure the transition goes smoothly, the news release said.
