Meanwhile, veteran e-health users are refining their systems and adding new tools into the mix.
Fifteen of the 24 Berkshire County medical practices overseen by the Massachusetts e-Health Institute (MeHI) have signed contracts with "implementation optimization" organizations to transition into the digital age of health care before a 2015 federal deadline.
Each practice, which will receive federal incentives for achieving various "meaningful use" mile-markers, is at varying stages of progress, according to MeHI director Rick Shoup, who said that implementation can take anywhere from six weeks to three months.
"One of the key issues is you have to change your practice work flows," said Shoup, who is also the state’s health information technology coordinator.
Great Barrington-based Community Health Programs, one of the practices working with MeHI, is planning to sign on with an organization that will manage the e-health information off-site, according to CEO Bryan Ayars. An in-house system would require extra staff, he said, to handle the complexities of multiple offices and the organization’s status as a community health center.
"As we grow, and as the technology grows, our prediction is it’s going to become more and more complex, and we’d rather spend our resources on the patient, and not on the technology," he said.
CHP plans to select its e-health provider in the next six weeks, and patients will begin seeing physicians and nurse practitioners using laptops or tablet computers in the exam rooms by the spring, Ayars said.
At Berkshire Health Systems, where computerized medical records have been in place for 10 years, a new electronic system was put into place by Nov. 1 for all physician practices.
"[We] are working with physicians and staff in the initial stages of the implementation to iron out any potential wrinkles," said chief information officer Bill Young in a written statement. He added that the health system is also working with some non-affiliated practices on their own e-health record systems.
The use of electronic health records at Berkshire Health Systems has improved patient safety outcomes, according to Dr. Gray Ellrodt, chief quality officer.
"Our medical error rate was already extremely low, but I can tell you that since we implemented our computerized physician order entry we’ve reduced our rate by over 70 percent," Ellrodt said. "And a lot of that is due to improved use of technology."
The hospital has also implemented several other computerized systems for its in-patient settings over the past several years. Began in 2007, a locked system for medications ensures that medicines are only available when an electronic order has been made. More recently, several computerized components put in extra checkpoints to make sure the correct medicine is administered to the correct patient.
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Autor(en)/Author(s): Amanda Korman
Quelle/Source: The Berkshire Eagle, 14.11.2011
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