As of 2009, only 9 percent of America’s hospitals were using even a basic form of electronic medical records (EHR) and as of 2008 only 13 percent of practicing doctors were doing so. Yet one private health insurer has integrated EHR for hospitals, physicians, outpatient and other services. I am of course talking about Kaiser Permanente.
Today I will review the book Connected for Health, which details how Kaiser implemented EHR in their system. The book is not an objective evaluation in that it is written by the people who participated in Kaiser EHR implementation. The lack of objectivity, however, is more than offset by the “insider” point of view the authors offer. This is not a book for people interested in a fun read or general health policy. However, if you are interested in implementing EHR in your organization, this book will likely prove invaluable.
Kaiser Overview
Kaiser Permanente is an enormous organization. It employs 14,000 physicians, 45,000 nurses, and thousands of other clinicians and staff. It has nine regions: Northern California, Southern California, Colorado (Denver), Colorado (Southern), Georgia, Hawaii, DC/Maryland/Virginia, Ohio, Oregon/Washington.
Kaiser EHR Functionality
Kaiser’s electronic health records system, KP HealthConnect, is based primary on software from Epic Systems of Wisconsin. The KPHealthConect system has the following functionalities:
- A personal health record,
- Outpatient practice management
- Outpatient clinicals (e.g., physician order entry, clinical documentation),
- Inpatient billing,
- Inpatient pharmacy,
- Inpatient administrative systems,
- Inpatient clinicals,
- Non-Epic Systems and Pre-existing applications that integrate with KPHealth Connect.
Of particular interest is the personal health record. Patients can view most parts of their medical record such as lab results, immunizations, past office visits, prescriptions, and more. Patients can send secure messages to providers and view, schedule or cancel appointments. Members can also view information on health risk assessments, drug encyclopedias, and use health insurance management tools.
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