ECH moving forward with electronic-record keeping

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Dr. Rob DeMuro, medical director for Elizabethtown Community Hospital, explains how some of the electronic medical-records equipment works at the hospital's Health Center in Elizabethtown. The hospital is well ahead of schedule in transferring its medical record keeping to a totally electronic format.

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September 7, 2010

ECH medical-records equipment exceeds expectations

By JEFF MEYERS Staff Writer The Press Republican Tue Sep 07, 2010, 03:26 AM EDT

ELIZABETHTOWN — Elizabethtown Community Hospital is well ahead of a government-mandated requirement to establish a complete electronic medical-records system by 2015.

At that time, hospitals will continue to receive Medicaid and Medicare payments if they meet the deadline but may be subject to losing government funding if they fall short of the mandated timetable.

ECH has already implemented electronic-record keeping at its three health centers, one each in Elizabethtown, Westport and Wilmington, and is in the process of moving toward full compliance at the hospital.

"We're well on our way," said Jane Hooper, director of Public Relations for E'town. "We expect to be completely up and running by next summer."

Hooper cites several factors for the facility's ability to move forward with the process, including the technologically advanced foundation ECH already has in place as well as the hospital's small size, which helps move things along more quickly than at a large medical center.

Simply put, electronic medical records involves putting patient information — name, address, insurance, medical history, allergies, medications — into a computerized format, eliminating the use of hand-written charts. Doctors, nurses and other health-care providers will be able to access electronic information on their patients and record additional information electronically for future reference.

"Electronic records will dramatically reduce medical and administrative errors," said Bonnie Rata, chief nursing officer for ECH.

Rata has been developing a series of questions that doctors and nurses use when assessing patients, along with possible answers to those questions, to help create flow charts that will be used in the medical-records system.

Working closely with the hospital's Information Systems and Support unit, Rata has incorporated the flow charts she has tailored for ECH patients into templates created by the program's software manufacturer.

"We are familiar with the needs of our patients," she said. "We've designed questions so that the flow charts will work with the type of patient we have at Elizabethown."

HIGH SECURITY

Staff will be using laptop-type devices called tablet PCs in patient rooms, and only the providers caring for specific patients will be able to sign onto that patient's records during treatment. The hospital is using special barcodes and fingertip passkeys to ensure a high level of security for the system.

"The program will identify the employee's job responsibility and find the information the employee needs to provide care for that patient," said Brett Sicola, project manager for setting up the system. "It is very specific to the job position accessing it."

For instance, Rata has designed different flow charts for such areas as the Emergency Department, Radiology and Inpatient Services, and Sicola has connected each area to the employees from those areas to make sure all possible scenarios are covered.

"We do not have a maternity ward, so we do not need a flowchart for that service line," Hooper said. "However, we could potentially deliver a baby in the ER, so it still needs to be part of the hospital's EMR development."

Flowcharts for the hospital and the health centers also go in directions unique to the services each facility provides.

"Most physicians hesitate to talk about electronic medical records," said Dr. Rob DeMuro, chief of the Elizabethtown medical staff. "There are some concerns that it will slow down our process for seeing patients, but the big benefit is that it will be easier to find patient data. We've had patients with two and three volumes of charts. Transferring patient information to electronic records will provide much easier access to that information."

As electronic medical record keeping grows, doctors will be able to share information among the staff and will strengthen the continuity of care for all patients.

At the Elizabethtown-based health centers, providers first began working with the electronic templates by expanding the exam time for each patient they worked with to improve their efficiency gathering electronic records.

"At first, everybody was a little frustrated with the learning curve, but we're already at a point where we would not want to go back," DeMuro said. "Our patients seem very excited to see us using this new technology."

The hospital has invested about $750,000 into the switch to electronic-record keeping and countless hours toward training of staff. Hospital officials are looking at going live with the program in the hospital by Nov. 1.

E-mail Jeff Meyers at: jmeyers@pressrepublican.com