New York State awards Columbia Memorial $1.03 million
for new information technology system
Columbia Memorial Hospital was awarded $1.03 million by the New York State
Department of Health (DOH) to implement a health information network. It becomes
one of only 19 leading community-based health information technology (IT)
projects statewide that are being funded under the HEAL New York grant
program.
According to a release from Governor David A. Paterson’s office, “the grants are central to the state’s strategy to ensure that clinical information is in the hands of clinicians and their patients to help guide medical decisions and support the delivery of more coordinated, patient-centered care.” The grant will help Columbia Memorial integrate quality reporting and electronic health records across 11 ambulatory care sites and long term care facilities in Columbia and Greene counties. The Columbia Memorial system is designed to
facilitate improvements in the quality, efficiency and safety of regional health care delivery, according to the project summary.
According to hospital CEO Jane Ehrlich, the new system will facilitate data exchange between the hospital and the external providers of medical and health related services. Moreover, it will strengthen the reach and impact of patient care quality. “It will also interface with the hospital’s existing Meditech system for inpatient record tracking and intra-hospital communication,” she said. “The immediate availability of a patient’s medical record can have a dramatic impact on patient treatment and outcome,” continued Ehrlich.
The recipients of these Department of Health awards “will build a technical infrastructure that will support health care improvements for all New Yorkers, while ensuring the privacy and security of health information,” according to the DOH release.
There are four key outcomes that will occur because of the installation of this new electronic health records system at Columbia Memorial: 1) It will deliver real-time information to clinicians to inform their decision making. 2) It will allow a patient's health information to follow him/her across different providers and care settings without the burden of physically carrying that information. 3) It will improve regional and national quality goals. 4) It will facilitate reporting to public agencies.
Another benefit of the use of this information technology will be to meet the State’s requirements to restructure the long-term care delivery system, improving the quality of services to older populations. State Health Commissioner Richard F. Daines, M.D., said: “We congratulate all the projects and look forward to working with them to achieve these important clinical goals. The best evidence is that, when used as intended, interoperable electronic health records support clinicians in making fact-based decisions so medical errors and redundant tests can be reduced and the coordination of care can be improved.”
All projects will participate in a comprehensive evaluation program conducted by the Health Information Technology Evaluation Consortium, comprised of SUNY Buffalo, SUNY Albany, the University of Rochester, the Center for Workforce Studies, Columbia University and Cornell University.
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