St. E, IBM partner to drive Ky’s largest e-health record initiative
St. Elizabeth Healthcare and IBM are partnering in the state’s largest rollout of e-medical records designed to improve patient care and lower medical costs. The new system will replace paper-based records on more than 50,000 patients in the St. Elizabeth Healthcare system. This initiative will put the Northern Kentucky region and the St. E on the leading edge of e-health technology. Just 1.5 percent of the nation’s hospitals have this comprehensive electronic records system. "This represents an important step and a unified foundation to deliver better care to our patients," said Alex Rodriguez, chief information officer, St. Elizabeth Healthcare. " This major initiative will mean that more than 12 percent of the population of Northern Kentucky and the greater Cincinnati area will have an electronic medical record. Regardless if a patient is seen at their physician's office, an acute care hospital or the emergency room, caregivers will have deep insight into patient history and care can be better coordinated." The new system will debut in September in 31 primary care doctor’s offices, followed by four clinics and ambulatory care sites within St. Elizabeth Healthcare. In total six hospitals, and four imaging centers and clinics and 1,000 physicians will be connected in a unified system by late 2010. IBM Power Systems servers will support the system. It will help “improve the quality of care each patient receives by providing better access to patient information, a complete view of patient history, medication and treatment plans, and even faster access to lab results to make better, more informed decisions,” according to IBM. Writer: Feoshia HendersonSource: IBM
