It’s Epic: All of HealthPartners on the Electronic Medical Record

From a news release:

With going live on Epic (electronic medical record system) Feb. 1, and clinics expected to follow on June 1, HealthPartners’ entire family of organizations will be on an electronic medical record (EMR).

This is another big advantage of the strong partnerships across HealthPartners’ family of organizations.

By sharing technology, such as an EMR, there is one central source for all of the information providers need to care for patients (such as medical history, contact information and insurance details).

This means patients receive better care; patients can easily be seen throughout our organization without having to transfer records or repeat medical histories wherever they go.

According to Jeff Robertson, CEO, Lakeview Health, using the same electronic health record for patients will allow providers to better coordinate care, improve exchange of important information about treatments, and get complete and up-to-date information.

“The launch of Epic at Lakeview also signals both our commitment to ongoing partnership across our entire health system, as well as to an improved patient experience,” he said.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, in 2010, just 48.3 percent of physicians reported using all or partial electronic health record systems in their office-based practices.

HealthPartners clinics began using Epic in 1997, followed by Regions Hospital in 2005 and Westfields and Hudson hospitals in 2010.

HealthPartners’ use of Epic has twice led to them to being named one of health care’s “Most Wired” by the American Hospital Association and Hospital & Health Networks magazine.