Baptist’s transition to a systemwide electronic health record system highlights the advancements made in digital technology. This modernization of the health care infrastructure is part of the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act, which is ushering in a new standard for managing and using patient information to improve patient outcomes.
“Back in 2009, the government passed the HITECH Act,” said Jill Powelson, executive director at Baptist Medical Group responsible for quality reporting. “That had a few purposes. One was to improve quality by standardizing things that were considered best practice. Another was to reduce the overall cost of care in the United States.”
Powelson also mentioned a third benefit, patient engagement through a patient portal. So the act would require health care providers and hospitals to adopt an electronic health record system that had been approved or certified by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. Additionally, these providers and hospitals must demonstrate that they’re consistently using EHR technology in a meaningful way.
HealthIT.gov defines meaningful use as using certified EHR technology to improve quality, safety, efficiency, and reduce health disparities; engage patients and families; improve care coordination and population and public health; and maintain privacy and security of patient health information.
Simply put, “This is really about quality and safety,” said Dana Dye, vice president and chief nurse executive for Baptist Memorial Health Care.
That’s because meaningful use really standardizes the way health care providers and hospitals use EHR technology to deliver the same quality of care for every patient. It also ensures interoperability, or that different EHR systems can talk to each other. Most health care providers were already implementing these types of systems before the CMS initiative was established.
“The government has provided incentives to ease the transition into this standardized approach to help offset cost,” said Powelson.
The CMS incentive program includes clearly defined objectives that each entity must meet within a prescribed timeframe. These objectives are divided into three stages—1) data capture and sharing, 2) advance clinical processes and 3) improved outcomes.
Baptist is in the process of satisfying the first stage of the initiative by transitioning to Baptist OneCare, an Epic-powered EHR, at all its entities. Baptist Minor Medical Centers and many metro-Memphis Baptist Medical Group practices completed the transition on Jan. 1 and 2. Four metro-Memphis Baptist hospitals started using the system on March 11.
“I’m proud to say I work for Baptist because we have invested heavily in our Baptist OneCare project,” said Dye. “And we’ve chosen a vendor that meets our needs across all our continuums of care.”
The remaining Baptist entities will start using the Epic EHR system in waves, ending in 2015. Once Baptist facilities have demonstrated Stage 1, they’ll begin Stage 2, which must be completed in 2016, and Stage 3, which starts in 2017. Some BMG practices have already started working on Stage 2.
“While this is a Medicare program, it’s not about Medicare patients or Medicaid patients,” said Dye. “This is about every patient, every time. So meaningful use will provide benefits to all patients, whether they’re a Medicare patient or not. And I think that’s the nice part about this.”