2011 Annual Report - United Memorial Medical Center

Electronic Health Records
Electronic health records improve care by enabling functions that
paper records cannot deliver.
• Makes a patient’s health information available when and
where it is needed; not locked away in an one office or another.
• Brings a patient’s total health information together in one
place, and keeps it current; clinicians have access to information
about the drugs or treatments prescribed by other
providers, so care is better coordinated.
• Supports better follow-up information for patients. For example,
after a clinical visit or hospital stay, instructions and
information for the patient can be provided effortlessly; and
reminders for other follow-up care can be sent easily or even
automatically to the patient.
• Improves patient and provider convenience. Patients can
have their prescriptions ordered and ready before even
leaving the provider’s office; and insurance claims can be
filed immediately from the provider’s office.
• Links information with patient computers to point to additional
resources. Patients can be more informed and involved
as electronic health records are used to help identify
additional web resources.
• Does more than just “contain” or transmit information. Can
also compute with it. For example, certain record systems
can not only contain a list of a patient’s medications or allergies,
they can also automatically check for problems whenever
a new medication is prescribed and then alert the clinician
to potential conflicts.
• Improves safety with the capacity to bring all of a patient’s
information together and to automatically identify potential
safety issues; assists clinicians by providing “decision support”
capability.
• Delivers more information in more directions while reducing
“paperwork” time for providers. For example, electronic
health records can be programmed for easy or automatic
delivery of information that needs to be shared with public
health agencies or quality measurement, saving clinician
time.
• Improves privacy and security. With proper training and
effective policies, electronic records can be more secure
than paper.
• Reduces costs through reduced paperwork, improved safety,
reduced duplication of testing, and most of all improved
health through the delivery of more effective health care.
Source: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
To achieve these goals, an 8 step process for EMR
adoption was established for U.S. hospitals with
the ARRA funds available as an incentive to offset
the cost of implementation. Healthcare providers
must meet strict timelines and criteria established
by CMS to qualify.
In the past four years, United Memorial has invested
over $10.5 million in information technology.
“This aggressive initiative has helped
UMMC reach federally established criteria for
achieving “meaningful use” in order to fully
benefit from the stimulus dollars available,”
stated Mark C. Schoell, President and CEO,
“more importantly, by improving our information
technology we are improving the quality of
care provided to our patients.”
In 2011, UMMC was in the top 5% of hospitals,
nationally, to reach the Stage 6 requirements for
an EMR Adoption Model. Attaining a Stage 6
designation indicates that a hospital has achieved
a high degree of clinical automation that is incorporated
into the patient care services it delivers
and provides the highest levels of patient safety
and quality outcomes. In 2012, UMMC began
working towards completion of Stage 7 objectives
and full adoption of the EMR.
In February and March 2012, United Memorial
received its first installment of electronic medical
record meaningful use funds in the combined
amount of $2.4 million. All funds will be used
towards further enhancements to the organization’s
health information technology.