Agreement to Create Electronic Records Exchange between Area Emergency Rooms

Data Exchange will improve patient safety, reduce health care costs

Oklahoma City – Nine Oklahoma City metro hospital organizations finalized an electronic data sharing network agreement this week that has the potential to improve patient safety and lower health care costs. Through a collaboration that began last year, Oklahoma City hospitals will put into place a secure process to share electronic records of patients who seek care in the emergency department. The new system will facilitate care coordination, provide better continuity of care and should result in better outcomes for patients.

Through the agreement, participating Oklahoma City area hospitals will use an existing and proven utility, SMRTNET, established by the Cherokee County Health Services Council through a grant from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. The system is expected to be up and running by mid-September and will put Oklahoma City’s health care system on the leading edge in the nation for health information technology.

Oklahoma City area facilities that will be included in the initial implementation are Edmond Medical Center, INTEGRIS Baptist Medical Center, INTEGRIS Canadian Valley Regional Hospital, INTEGRIS Southwest Medical Center, Mercy Health Center, Midwest Regional Medical Center (Midwest City), Norman Regional Health System (including Moore Medical Center), Oklahoma Heart Hospital, OU MEDICAL CENTER, and St. Anthony Hospital. The hospitals are all members of the Greater Oklahoma City Hospital Council, an affiliate of the Oklahoma Hospital Association.

“A lack of easily accessible medical history in the emergency room can limit the ability to provide optimal care,” said David Whitaker, chairman, Greater Oklahoma City Hospital Council, and president/CEO of Norman Regional Health System. “This system will provide a more efficient and much quicker way to share medical records than the current paper system. Allowing information to be shared instantaneously will reduce the need for unnecessary tests and procedures, avoid injuries due to known medication allergies and reactions, and improve overall outcomes.”

Information to be exchanged through the system will include patient demographics, medications, allergies and reactions, diagnosis history, laboratory results, procedures, immunizations, and health care providers. SMRTNET’s secure system has been thoroughly reviewed and tested by more than 14 privacy officers and security experts and is the same system currently used by financial institutions.

“Oklahoma county residents will now have benefit of a tested system to allow them to have a timely medical record wherever they go in the Oklahoma City area and still be assured of the same privacy and security they have now with the traditional paper system,” said Dr. George Foster, dean, Oklahoma College of Optometry, a member organization of SMRTNET.

SMRTNET, which stands for Secure Medical Records Transfer Network, is in successful operation in northeast Oklahoma and operates with more than 400,000 medical records in that network. “This current project in the Cherokee County area provides a model microcosm of the U.S. by bringing together city and county governments, state government, federal government, Native Americans and university involvement,” said Dr. Foster. “It provides an excellent example of a proven partnership that can be put into process elsewhere. This is the only Oklahoma county health authority to explore policies and health changing opportunities at a local level that can then be modeled at the national level,” he said.

The initial implementation of the electronic records exchange in Oklahoma City will be complete in about 120 days and will provide a backbone to construct a more expanded community network in the future. The system will be launched in the emergency departments initially, but will be expanded to include additional ancillary tests and procedures in coming years. The group also hopes to expand the network to community free clinics.

“Many people who come to emergency rooms don’t have a primary care physician, a ‘medical home.’ Timely access to medical records could help hospitals reduce unnecessary duplication of medical care to these patients,” said Whitaker.

During the planning process for the Oklahoma City network which began last summer, task forces identified the benefits of implementing the system to include $14 million in savings and an anticipated improvement of 30 out of 90 hospital quality measures.

Established in 1919, the Oklahoma Hospital Association represents 130 hospitals and health care entities across the state of Oklahoma. OHA’s primary objective is to promote the welfare of the public by leading and assisting its members in the provision of better health care and services for all people. For more, go to www.okoha.com.

For more information on SMRTNET, go to www.smrtnet.org.