(Washington, D.C.) – Today, U.S. Senator Patty Murray (D-WA) announced that she has included $1.15 million for Port Angeles projects in an important Senate spending bill. Funding will go to Olympic Medical Center and Peninsula College. The funding was included in the Labor, Health, and Human Services (LHHS) Appropriations bill. The bill was passed out of the full Senate Appropriations Committee today and will now go to the full Senate for consideration.
Olympic Medical Center – $650,000
This funding will go toward an electronic medical records/practice management system for the Olympic Medical Center. Olympic Medical Center will fund the first phase of this project this year by committing approximately $930,000 of their own funding. The funding Senator Murray has included today will help continue the project. The new system will allow Olympic Medical center to share electronic charts, electronic prescribing, health maintenance, interface in-house and community systems and facilitate the delivery of better and safer patient care. This will enable them to treat more patients, reduce time needed to process labs, charts, billing, scheduling and reduce the risk of costly mistakes.
"This funding will go to implementing a new records management system that will allow Olympic Medical Center to improve safety, keep down costs and ensure access," said Senator Murray. "With Olympic Medical Center set to serve a great number of local seniors in the coming years – many of whom will have extensive medical records – it’s important that we address this problem now."
“With Olympic Medical’s Community Electronic Medical Records Connection (EMR), Clallam County and area medical care providers will be better able to facilitate services, enhance superior quality and patient safety and save costs for patients, providers and payers," says Rhonda Curry, assistant administrator. "It will be better able to facilitate patient services, provide improved services and save both the patient and the healthcare providers’ costs. It will be incredibly valuable for our community. Olympic Medical Center has committed over $930,000 to get the project off the ground in 2008”
Peninsula College – $500,000
The recently opened Peninsula College Science & Technology Building houses science, computer, and technology labs and classrooms to support regional workforce and economic development. The facility currently lacks the laboratory and technology equipment to ensure that local students are prepared for a 21st Century workforce. This funding will go to purchase and install lab equipment for the building. The funding will also support the Peninsula College Collaborative Mentoring Model to improve academic success and college degree attainment among disadvantaged high school students.
"Peninsula College’s new Science and Technology Building is just the type of facility we need to better prepare our young people for today’s workplace," said Senator Murray. "This funding will help equip the labs and classrooms there with the tools and hands-on training needed to build science and technology skills. This funding will also help local K-12 teachers collaborate with Peninsula College in a joint effort to better prepare the community’s young people for college and successful careers.”
“To ensure quality education for our students and economic growth for our community, students and faculty must have access to crucial laboratory and classroom equipment in support of science and technology programs," said Dr. Thomas Keegan, Peninsula College President. "These tools are central to PC’s ability to prepare students for successful transfer to the university level and for viable careers in the North Olympic Peninsula’s evolving workplace."
Senator Murray has made college and workforce readiness issues a top priority in the U.S. Senate. Currently, she is preparing an initiative to ensure that graduating high school students have rigorous and relevant academic programs available to them so that they can have successful careers in the global workforce and access to further education opportunities.
