Orange Regional Medical Center celebrated the conclusion of its 10-week training course for all hospital staff and physicians on the use of its new electronic health record system on Wednesday, May 4.
While the Epic software program was the most comprehensive ”“ and the most expensive ”“ of those the administration examined, “What impressed us were the outcomes achieved by the hospitals using it; they achieved the best patient outcomes,” said Scott Batulis, hospital president and CEO. “This system is now used by just 2 percent of hospitals in the country, and we are one of them.”
It was also the biggest single expenditure ”“ $36 million ”“ made for the new hospital, but a purchase hospital board Chairman Lou Heimbach said was approved because it would help to revolutionize the quality of patient care in the Hudson Valley.
According to Epic, its system spans all hospital departments and specialties, giving personnel the tools they need to deliver safe, high-quality care. Its role-based navigators simplify relevant information access for physicians, nurses, therapists, dietitians and any other provider in the hospital setting. It also allows ORMC to “talk” to other EHR (electronic health records) systems, regardless of the software manufacturer.
Eventually, said Dr. Shafiq Rab, vice president and chief information officer, all hospitals, physician groups and private doctors will be using electronic medical records, enabling them share information, learn a patient”™s history and make informed decisions with the click of a mouse. “It will give them the ability to know exactly what care or treatment their patient received over the course of their lifetime and to make better decisions on the course of care required when they are in their hospital or office.”
Once purchased, the next step was to train more than 2,500 staff and physicians to learn to use it, with Jonnie Wesley-Krueger, director of training, education and development, who is coordinating 700 classes for ORMC”™s 2,500-plus staff and physicians and who attended the 10-week sessions.
“This could not have been accomplished so successfully without the total cooperation and enthusiasm  of every single member of the staff,” said Rab.
“We are changing health care forever,” said Batulis. “Where it used to take hours for a medication order to be delivered to a patient, this system will allow us to get it done in under an hour with much more accuracy; and that is just one of the many functions it offers.”
ORMC”™s new electronic health record system can “talk” to other EHRs, accessing health information on a patient.
Although some may find the concept difficult to believe, Rab said a patient”™s medical history ”“ from the day they were born until the day they walk into a doctor”™s office for a checkup or a complaint ”“ will be available to the physician with the touch of a hand in the not-too-distant future. “A person”™s whole medical history is assembled electronically and provides the doctor with all the information he or she needs to prescribe the best course of treatment for the patient. That”™s what it”™s all about.”
Batulis said ORMC plans to install the Epic EHR in Catskill Regional Medical Center in 2012.
