Member News Releases

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
March 15, 2006

Technology Links Patients and Doctors

Bob brought his wife, Marilyn, to the Emergency Department (ED) in the middle of the night because she was having trouble breathing. She had seen her doctor a few days earlier and was taking a new medication. Worried and fatigued, Marilyn couldn't tell the doctor what her primary care physician had told her just days prior.

Scenarios such as this are all too common in emergency departments across the nation. But thankfully, a three-year .5 million matching-funds grant will enable Sarah Bush Lincoln Emergency Department doctors to access the medical records of patients like Marilyn and help them more quickly. The ambulatory electronic medical record will become a reality.

Provided by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, the grant will help Sarah Bush Lincoln fully implement an electronic system that will provide shared access to patient records across various community healthcare providers. It will also provide electronic tools for prescription distribution and management. Although the project will be complete near the end of 2008, it will be implemented in fall 2006.

Sarah Bush Lincoln Vice President of Information Systems Mike DeLuca said, "Over the last several years, we have made significant investments in information technology to improve the safety of our patients and create efficiencies in our operation. Rural healthcare systems find it challenging to obtain the resources to make these investments, but these federal matching funds will help us implement this leading-edge technology."

DeLuca added, "The implementation of an ambulatory electronic medical record will help us continue our strategy to improve patient safety across the healthcare continuum."

A major component of the project is collaboration among healthcare
providers. The project builds on a hospital-based electronic medical record that is already in place. Grant funds will support the development of electronic records that link Sarah Bush Lincoln physician offices with independent providers (Urology Associates) and Eastern Illinois University's Health Services. "This is significant because we often have students come to our Emergency Department seeking care long after the university's Health Services have closed. In the proposed system, our ED staff will be able to access the student's medical records to fully understand previous care and make more informed healthcare decisions," DeLuca said.

The system also may improve patient safety by making physician notes and orders easier to read, since they will be keyed into the system by physicians. The software will have prescription tools to alert providers to drug interactions and allergies, as well as dosage appropriateness.

Oncologist/Hematologist Edward C. Hoppin, M.D., FACP, who serves as the chairperson of the Executive Council for employed physicians, said, "This is the best thing we can do for our patients, and it will help us take better care of them through the built-in safety components. It's a very exciting opportunity for us."

DeLuca added that the federal assistance will help the Health Center provide greater resources and support to physicians and clinical staff to better guide them through the technology change.

He explained that the federal government is calling for a standardized healthcare data interchange across the country over the next 10 years. "The opportunity to apply for this grant occurs just once a year and the competition for the dollars requires significant advance planning. Last spring, we needed to make a decision whether to apply for support. We continue to have open conversations with our medical staff about how to best implement the project, and we consider ourselves fortunate to be ready to move in this direction while funds are available."

Over the last three years, the Health System has undergone a system-wide computer conversion to Meditech. It has turned hospital patients' charts into digital files easily accessible from the patient floors, physician offices and other off-site locations. Through Meditech, physicians can access their patients' diagnostic test results soon after they are posted in the system. It also has tools to check for prescription interactions, and eliminates illegible handwriting when staff type information in the patients' charts. With the addition of resources from the recent grant award, the Health Center will extend the use of electronic tools and evaluate the impact of their use.

For more information about the proposed electronic ambulatory medical record, call Information Systems at 258- or 348-2435.