- Natalie Frankart, RN, with The Bellevue Hospital's (TBH) Medical/Surgical Department, and Kim Stults, RN, MSN, TBH's Director of Health Information Technology & Telecommunications Department
The Bellevue Hospital (TBH) is in the final phases of a multi-million dollar project implementing an Electronic Medical Record (EMR) for patients at the local healthcare facility.
“This is the single-largest investment ($6 million) since opening this facility in 2005,” noted Michael K. Winthrop, President and CEO of TBH.
TBH is working with McKesson Paragon out of Charlotte, NC, for the conversion to the EMR. The switch to EMR was mandated to hospitals through the American Reinvestment and Recovery Act of 2009. Hospitals not complying by 2015 will face strict enforcement penalties. TBH started the conversion process over two years ago and “goes live” with the switch on Monday, May 6.
“This conversion will impact all of our patients in every aspect of their care, beginning with the Registration process,” said Kim Stults, director of TBH’s Health Information Technology & Telecommunications Department. “It will not only affect our patients, but each department at the hospital as well. One of the main things we have stressed for the past two years is ‘patience.’ We have asked our employees to be patient through this process, and now we ask our patients for the same consideration as we begin the conversion.”
Electronic protection of the EMR has been a priority. “We have implemented various safeguards including encryption, fingerprint ID, and password protection, and we will continue to monitor and safeguard the EMR,” said Stults.
Stults said there are three notable changes TBH patients will see when coming to the facility after May 6:
- The first time visiting after May 6, nurses will obtain a detailed patient profile/history including current medications that will then be stored electronically. Once the history is complete, the nursing, clinical and physician staff need only update each visit to TBH.
- Patients will now electronically sign all admission consent forms, the Privacy notice, and Medicare admission documents, similar to signing a credit card transaction.
- Wristbands with bar codes will be given to all inpatient and outpatient customers. Wristbands will be scanned (code scanners will scan the wristbands) for patient identification and medicine administration.
“The conversion to the EMR will also benefit our physicians,” continued Stults. “They will have increased remote and in-house access to their patients’ information, which in turn will enhance the continuum of care.”
For questions pertaining to the conversion to EMR, please contact Kim Stults at 419.483.4040, Ext. 4401.