St.Vincent Heart Center of Indiana and The Care Group

Offer Individual Medical Records on a Pocket-Sized Compact Disc

CARMEL, IN  – St.Vincent Heart Center of Indiana and The Care Group have partnered with locally-based GEMMS, a leader in medical record systems for cardiology practices, to conveniently offer patients and families their medical information to have in an emergency situation. 

GEMMS MyRECORD is a credit-card sized compact disc (CD) that contains patients’ current cardiovascular medical information, and history from The Care Group’s electronic medical records system and the St.Vincent Heart Center’s cardiovascular records. 

The cardiology practice and heart facility are the first in Indiana to provide this innovative service to cardiology patients.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), emergency room visits have hit a record high of nearly 114 million visits per year.  Providing patients with access to their medical record at point of care will help save lives and produce better outcomes. 

“We are taking a proactive approach by providing our patients with access to their cardiovascular medical records in emergency situations,” said Dr. Richard Fogel, a Care Group cardiologist at the St.Vincent Heart Center of Indiana.  “This miniature CD can fit easily in a person’s wallet or purse, and can be insdrted into any computer.  We are offering this service to all of our patients, so healthcare providers can make accurate treatment and diagnostic decisions in a medical emergency.”

The $25 CD includes patients’ medication lists, diagnosis, allergies, discharge summary and diagnostic image reports, such as electrocardiograms and echocardiography reports.  Emergency information, physician contact information and education on a patient’s specific diagnosis and medications are also available on the mini-CD.  Application forms for the CDs are available at The Care Group offices and at www.thecaregroup.com. Patients are encouraged to update their CD annually.

In 2007, The Care Group and St.Vincent Heart Center of Indiana treated more than 13,600 patients, and have outpatient offices in Indianapolis, Carmel, Fishers, Zionsville, Danville, Lafayette, Anderson, Kokomo, Richmond, Marion and Greenfield.

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About St.Vincent Heart Center of Indiana
St.Vincent Heart Center of Indiana (SVHCI) is an entire complex of facilities and medical specialists focused on providing advanced, specialized treatment of cardiovascular disease in a warm, comfortable and caring environment.  SVHCI was the first free-standing heart hospital in the Indianapolis metro area when it opened five and a half years ago, and is a joint venture between St.Vincent Health and the physicians and surgeons of The Care Group, LLC and CorVasc MD's P.C..  In addition to a state-of-the-art medical and surgical 80-bed hospital, SVHCI is home to a 24/7 Heart Emergency Unit, which has received a five-star rating from HealthGrades for 2005, 2006, 2007 and 2008.  SVHCI has also been recognized by HealthGrades as #1 in Indiana and in the top 5% of all hospitals in the U.S. for overall cardiac services for 2006, 2007 and 2008 and is a Thomson/Solucient Top 100 Hospital for Cardiovascular Services.

About The Care Group, LLC

The Care Group, LLC is recognized internationally as one of the premier sites for cardiovascular research and services.  The practice has 92 cardiologists and 42 primary care/internal medicine specialists in 56 office and clinic locations throughout Indiana, with St.Vincent Heart Center of Indiana, St.Vincent Hospital and Methodist Hospital serving as its flagship locations.  Care Group physicians pioneered many of the common treatments in cardiology today, including angioplasty, atherectomy and intra-coronary stents.          
 

The Care Group is proud to be the exclusive provider of cardiac services for St.Vincent Heart Center of Indiana,  the number one cardiovascular program in Indiana and in the top 5% in the United States for overall cardiac services as rated in 2006, 2007 and 2008 by HealthGrades, America’s leading provider of independent hospital ratings.