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"We can't imagine our office without electronic medical records. Ourability to view current patient records during an appointment has allowed usto streamline care and provide more efficient and effective care to ourpatients," said Patrick McCarthy, M.D., a pediatric and adult urologyspecialist in LaGrande. "We've seen a huge improvement in our transcriptionturnaround to within 24 hours, and the system has allowed us to eliminate thegaps in care that can occur with paper records."
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Widely heralded as a solution to the fragmented health care system,e-health measures such as electronic medical records allow the free flow ofpatient information among doctors, testing labs, pharmacies and hospitals.
"There's a lot of discussion in the industry about inefficient medicalcare and variable quality of care," said Ralph Prows, M.D., Regence seniormedical director. "One reason is that our medical information isn't alwayswhere we need it to be. Electronic medical records would change that."
The pilot aimed to connect the fragmented components of care in onecommunity, and target the kind of error, waste and duplication of medicalprocedures that experts estimate devours up to 30 percent of health caredollars.
While agreement on the benefits of e-health measures is widespread, use isnot: Less than nine percent of practices with one to three physicians useelectronic records, according to a recent survey by the U.S. Department ofHealth and Human Services. Among large practices, those with 50 or moreproviders, only half use electronic records in the U.S., compared to 83percent physician use in the United Kingdom, 72 percent in Australia and59 percent in the Netherlands, according to a 2006 Commonwealth FundInternational survey.
Physicians cite cost as the primary barrier, especially to small practiceslike those in LaGrande. The Regence pilot overcame that hurdle by opting forWeb-based services and a minimum of hardware. The pilot connected the lonehospital, test lab, pharmacies and health care providers in La Grande, Ore.Internet subscription fees and equipment, paid by Regence, came to about $3000per provider per year, well below the five- and six-figure estimates that someproviders say discourages their investment.
"What this proved was that we can pull it all together for a reasonablecost," said Dr. Prows.
The experiment prompted a range of responses in the medical community andrevealed many areas for further examination that Regence will share with otherstakeholders in the industry in its drive to promote e-health measuresregionally and nationally.
-- Provider practices exhibit widely varying levels of technical abilityto adopt electronic medical records
--Community agreement on the technical specifications and informationsharing is critical to success
-- Regence may shift focus of future efforts to helping providers preparefrom a workflow and technology standpoint to implement e-health measures
The LaGrande pilot program was one of several Regence commitments toinvest in e-health measures as a key to transforming the health care system,and an exploratory effort to identify a role for the health plan in fosteringwider electronic connectivity in health care.
About Regence
Regence is the largest health insurer in the Northwest / Mountain StateRegion, offering health, life and dental insurance. We serve three millionmembers as Regence BlueCross BlueShield of Oregon, Regence BlueShield (inWashington), Regence BlueCross BlueShield of Utah and Regence BlueShield ofIdaho. Each plan is a not-for-profit independent licensee of the Blue Crossand Blue Shield Association. Regenc
