Hospital’s electronic records system put through paces
Posted on Wednesday, November 14, 2007
ROGERS — Dr. Sheryl Bushman sat next to a projection screen showing the electronic medical record of a 29-year-old woman late Tuesday afternoon in a ballroom at the Embassy Suites hotel.
Health-care providers with Mercy Health System of Northwest Arkansas explained at a news conference how services and patient safety will improve once the proposed electronic medical-record system comes into use this winter at its new Mercy Medical Center hospital.
A representative from the St. Louis-based Sisters of Mercy Health System — along with several local doctors, nurses and administrators — narrated a presentation about how the new recording system developed by Epic Systems Corp. of Madison, Wis., will be used by hospital staff.
Bushman said the system would alert her to her fictitious patient’s drug allergies if she tried to treat the patient’s urinary tract infection with a certain medication because of the record’s ability to store patient information.
And prescription knowledge at the point of care could also possibly save this patient the hassle of learning the wrong medication had been prescribed at her pharmacy, said Michael Potts, a Mercy doctor. The new medical-record system will debut in Mercy’s primary-care clinic in Rogers in February and at the $ 145 million Mercy Medical Center the next month. The hospital system’s 11 clinics throughout the region will also be connected.
“For us, it’s perfect timing as we go into the new hospital, ’’ Mercy spokesman Kyle Weaver said. “ All of the newness will be out of the way at once.” Officials said the system represents a new era for Mercy, and is a huge milestone for the nonprofit health-care provider. Mercy Medical Center, a 200-bed facility in southwest Rogers near New Hope Road, will be the first hospital in the Catholic provider’s 18-hospital network to adopt the new system, Weaver said. Electronic medical records are created and owned by healthcare providers, and patient data is protected under the federal 1996 Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, known as HIPAA.
The U. S. Department of Health and Human Services said in October that it will begin rewarding small practices, those with between three and five doctors, for adopting electronic health records, according to Healthcare IT News.
The department’s Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services said adopting the system will mean higher-quality care.
Other area hospitals also have electronic medical-record systems. Washington Regional Medical Center in Fayetteville records about 80 percent of patient information electronically.
George Flynn, chief executive officer of Mercy Health System of Northwest Arkansas, said patient safety has been a key focus in the automation of hospital functions. He cited the hospital’s 2004 effort to reduce fatal mistakes caused by medication errors when it instituted a new bar code system for dispensing drugs.
“ The focus of safety will be taken to a new level with electronic medical records, ’’ Flynn said, ticking off several associated benefits such as historic lab results and allergy alerts.
Kathryn McClellan, vice president of clinical systems for Mercy Health Systems in St. Louis, said the new system will also help improve the patientcare experience, since it can better anticipate patient needs and help staff with scheduling.
Catherine Kite, a Mercy Health System of Northwest Arkansas accountability executive for Epic records, said access to patient records will be password-protected, for example preventing a registration clerk from accessing HIPAA-protected patient data. “ Employees will only see part of the [electronic medical ] record for their job function, ’’ she said. Training for the new system begins this month and will run through March, Kite said.
To contact this reporter: lwhalen@arkansasonline. com
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