Kaiser completes systemwide EMR rollout

After 10 years and $4 billion, Kaiser Permanente has completed the largest private-sector EMR rollout in the world, as three hospitals in Northern California recently went online with bar-coded medication administration, clinical decision support and bedside documentation. The system has been in all 431 outpatient facilities since 2008.

The program started with an in-house development at Kaiser's Colorado region, then switched to an Epic Systems EMR, branded as KP HealthConnect, in 2004. Kaiser began deploying the My Health Manager PHR in 2007; in 2009, more than 3 million people logged in a total of 27 million times to check their own records, the Oakland, Calif.-based organization says.

"This milestone is one that we have looked forward to for years, and it is extremely rewarding to have watched an idea, that was questioned by many, turn into a reality," Dr. Andrew Wiesenthal, associate executive director at The Permanente Federation and a leader in the massive EMR project, says in a written statement.

Kaiser has had 24 of its 36 hospitals reach Stage 7, the highest level, on the HIMSS Analytics EMR Adoption Model, which measures functionality of installed EMRs. Only 39 facilities nationwide have achieved Stage 7, and Kaiser officials expect most of its remaining hospitals to reach this level in 2010.

For more details:
- see this Health Data Management story
- read this Kaiser press release

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