Electronic Health Records (EHR, EMR)
The Health Information and Management Systems Society has named Honolulu-based Hawai'i Pacific Health winner of the 2012 Enterprise HIMSS Davies Award of Excellence. Hawai'i Pacific Health is a Stage 6 hospital in electronic health record adoption; a nonprofit healthcare system; and Hawaii's largest healthcare provider.
Providence Health & Services, which employs more than 64,000 people in five states - Alaska, California, Montana, Oregon and Washington - will roll out speech recognition technology across the healthcare system to 8,000 clinicians in 27 hospitals and 250 clinics.
The upfront investment, development charges and personnel costs associated with traditional electronic health record (EHR) implementations make clear that getting to Stage 1 Meaningful Use is only the beginning of the investment. Additional enhancements required for Stage 2, changes in the regulatory environment, even minor code fixes - all will dramatically increase the overall cost of an already expensive proprietary EHR system.
One of the most interesting and innovative elements of the advancement of health information technology that I’ve encountered, is Blue Button, a web tool patients can use to view and download their personal health information. Blue Button has been in use for two years by the Veterans Health Administration and other healthcare organizations, including Kaiser Permanente, McKesson, Aetna and United Health Group.
“We’re not award seekers,” said Daniel Nigrin, CIO at Boston Children’s Hospital. Standing among a meager 1.2 percent of hospitals achieving HIMSS Stage 7 Analytics Award, Boston Children’s Hospital has one of the nation’s most sophisticated electronic health records systems, garnering nine ‘Most Wired’ titles from the Hospital and Health Network. Knowing this, it’s hard to believe Nigrin’s assertion, but any visit to the hospital will confirm that it really is all about the patients.
Reavis Eubanks, MD, defies the odds when it comes to giving up his paper charts and adopting an electronic medical record system. First, solo doctors, by many accounts, have a tough time making the transition; there's no IT personnel on staff to guide them and to troubleshoot, and then there's the issue of cost.
Christopher Boone, director of outpatient quality and health IT for the American Heart Association in Dallas, will fill a vacancy on the federal Health Information Technology Policy Committee. Boone will fill one of three committee positions held by advocates for patients or consumers.
Former President Bill Clinton will deliver the keynote at HIMSS13 in New Orleans on March 6. HIMSS officials released its list of speakers on Sept. 5, the same day Clinton delivered the keynote at the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte, N.C.
The Hawaii Island Beacon Community is focused on improving care for individuals with complex chronic conditions to avoid hospital readmissions, and engaging patients to better understand and get involved in their care. Contributing Editor Mary Mosquera saw first-hand how it works.
Sue Schade has been named chief information officer of University of Michigan Hospitals and Health Centers, after 12 years as CIO of Harvard Medical School teaching affiliate Brigham and Women's Hospital, which is part of Partners HealthCare.