e-MDs Information Sharing Benefits ER Patients
Shared access to medical records improves emergency care for local patients.
BENTON, ARKANSAS –A patient arrives at Saline Memorial Hospital’s emergency department to be treated for an injury or illness. It’s likely that the attending physician has not seen the patient before. But with a new program the hospital is implementing, the doctor may, in many cases, quickly access vital information to administer safe, effective treatment.
The information is provided through the Community Health Information Exchange program, which is in its infancy. However, it is a program that SMH officials believe will greatly enhance patient care, Shawn Shuffield, chief information officer, said. With this service available, an emergency department physician may efficiently and appropriately treat the patient by being able to see the patient’s medical history if the person is an established patient of a participating clinic. “The ER doctor can view the primary care physician’s patient records right in the emergency department as he treats the patient,” Shuffield said. “The doctor can review potential adverse drug reactions, disease management and treatment plans that have been part of the patient’s primary care.”
In basic terms, the Community Health Information Exchange is a partnership between Saline Memorial and the community medical staff to share patient medical records and information to simplify and improve care as well as reduce errors. The expense of the program is shared by the hospital and the participating clinics, Shuffield noted. According to regulations affecting 501(c)(3) nonprofit hospitals like Saline Memorial, the physician must pay at least 15 percent of the cost to implement his/her patients’ medical information, he said. “The hospital may not finance the physician’s contribution,” he said. “The reason we’re able to do it is because of changes in IRS regulations affecting 501(c)(3) organizations. “This is a totally new information system unique to the community,” Shuffield said. “It would be unlikely in larger communities where there are multiple hospitals and medical staffs,” he explained. “Our one hospital and one medical staff in Saline County make the perfect setting for this ... . “You can see how it wouldn’t work in Little Rock where there are three-four hospitals and 5,000 doctors ... ,” he added. “Saline County is in a position that not a lot of hospitals in Central Arkansas, and quite possibly in the entire state, might find themselves in,” he said.
Shuffield pointed out that “only the patient chart” is available to the ER doctor. “We don’t have access to any billing information.” According to the vision statement, the Community Health Information Exchange will improve the continuum of care for the community by providing a unified health information system.
It provides:
- - The patient’s entire record at one time to enable the hospital specialist to avoid unnecessary tests or the repetition of lab work, saving the patient costs.
- - A seamless electronic record from hospital to pharmacy to lab to another area, giving the primary care physician and hospital specialist the ability to constantly track the care of thee patient.
The program is currently installed in 25 percent of the community’s physician offices with another 25 percent committed to using the system. Installation of the system will be ongoing, Shuffield said. The goal is to eliminate paper charts, Janet Hampel, an employee at Saline Med-Peds Group, said. What happens if a computer system fails? “There are many redundancies, many multiple backups, built into the system,” Shuffield said. At Saline Med-Peds Group, the initial process of inputting records into the system began Nov. 1 and is ongoing, Hampel said. “There are no problems yet,” she noted. “We’re still in the learning curve, and we’re having to get used to it. They told us it would take about three months to complete this.” None of the doctors at that clinic have ever used an electronic records system in other settings.
Dr. Tyler Nelson, a partner with Dr. Chris Skelley at Bryant Medical Clinic, said the system is “going pretty well for us.” “We have worked on a different electronic records system before, so it’s probably a little easier for us to pick it up [than a clinic that never has used an electronic records system],” he said. “This one is better than the one we used before,” he added. “It’s more complicated, but better. We like the system.” While the overall goal is to provide better, safer treatment for patients, the patients themselves probably won’t notice a great deal of difference, Nelson said. “But the quality of care will be better if doctors are on one system and share a lot of information,” he said. Central Arkansas Pediatrics, the clinic started by Dr. Alan Stanford, is becoming part of the system, Shuffield said. Shuffield is hopeful that at least 50 percent of the local clinics will become part of the system by the end of the current fiscal year. “None of the doctors have actually objected to it, but some want to see it up and running before they commit to it,” he said.
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