The Charlestown-St.Agnes electronic system increases efficiency by providing immediate access to comprehensive patient information, improving care quality, facilitating communication among medical service providers, and lowering health care and administrative costs associated with redundant testing and patient treatment.

“Patient data is transferred between the two systems within four minutes of a patient’s registration or discharge anywhere at St. Agnes, like at outpatient surgery or doctors’ offices—not just the emergency room,” says Daniel Wilt, Erickson’s vice president of information technology.

Benefits for patients
“When high-quality emergency care is urgently needed, it is critical that immediate access to the patient’s up-to-date and accurate medication history and current medication regimen be within easy reach of medical experts,” says John Parrish, executive director of the Erickson Foundation.

“The patient information exchange improves the hospital experience for patients, families, physicians, and hospital staff,” says Matt Narrett, M.D., chief medical officer at Erickson. “Doctors can act with more confidence without having to do a lot of unnecessary tests.”

Other benefits of a patient information exchange include improved turnaround times for retrieval of current patient data, reduction of unnecessary paperwork, and minimization of adverse drug interactions and allergies.

The long-term plan
CRISP plans to start with the exchange of medication information, and then expand to other patient information such as medical and surgical histories.

In addition, CRISP will develop recommendations on a broad range of policies, principles, and designs for the secure exchange of patient information across  multiple provider settings. CRISP will also seek to develop a robust framework for ensuring each participating patient’s privacy and security.

“Over time, both the breadth and capability of the patient information exchange will be expanded to encompass many other sources and types of information  relevant to the delivery of affordable, high-quality care, while protecting the privacy of each individual and family and the security of shared information,” Parrish says.