Marion General Hospital in Marion, Ind. will develop and roll out enterprise-wide interoperable portals for physicians, patients, employees and consumers over the next two years.

Hospital executives selected Birmingham, Ala.-based MEDSEEK for the work.

The portals will enable MGH to streamline physician access to data, share data among portals, accelerate clinical and administrative efficiencies across its enterprise and strengthen ties with key constituents.

"We are a leading healthcare organization, but are striving to become the provider of choice in our Indiana market area by making it as convenient as possible for physicians, consumers, patients and employees to access services and information from us," said Emmanuel Ndow, MGH's CIO.

Ndow said the hospital wanted to work with a single vendor because one solution is easier and less expensive to maintain over the long term than solutions from disparate vendors.

"Improving the patient experience is in the forefront of every hospital executive's mind, in addition to ensuring that the investment decisions they make are sound," said Peter Kuhn, president of MEDSEEK.

Ndow said the new physician portal would give physicians the right information at the right time so they can make quick and sound treatment decisions at the bedside.

He said the clinical portal would play a key role in MGH's physician recruitment strategy: "It's extremely challenging to recruit young physicians. We believe that the portal, the ability to access information remotely and the commitment we have demonstrated to information technology will help us compete."

The new portals would also position MGH to participate in a future health data exchange, Ndow said.