BOSTON – Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center is collaborating with CDW Healthcare to deploy technology that will enable affiliated physician practices to access the hospital's electronic health record and practice management software.

The implementation, which includes a range of standardized hardware products, wireless technology and network solutions, will provide more than 300 physicians in 175 offices with the infrastructure to support pay-for-performance data capture and valuable decision-support tools.

Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center is a non-profit, 601-bed teaching hospital of Harvard Medical School. The medical center's drive to expand EHR and PM access to affiliated physician offices represents the latest stage of CIO John Halamka's mission to use IT to enhance the quality of patient care, reduce medical errors and improve patient outcomes.

During the planning stage of its EHR project, BIDMC is enlisting the help of CDW Healthcare to pre-configure and deliver the infrastructure and desktop solutions that will enable physician offices to access the hospital's patient information and practice management databases. The deployment includes a variety of wireless-capable products such as desktops, laptops and tablet PCs, all of which will be pre-configured by CDW Healthcare to be plug-and-play upon arrival. CDW Healthcare also worked with BIDMC to enhance the server capacity of the EHR project data center, ensuring that the hospital has the capability to support project demands.

"Equipping remote physician offices with EHR and PM capabilities can provide a number of benefits ranging from enhanced decision support to standardized billing processes," said Bob Rossi, senior director for CDW Healthcare. "However, both the parent institution hosting the applications and the individual practices responsible for acquiring the supporting hardware need to be aware of the significant challenges in a large-scale rollout. Standardized products, consistent imaging and staggered deployments are necessary to ensure a sustainable model that won't overwhelm smaller offices."

CDW Healthcare is working directly with the physician offices to streamline acquisition processes by creating a Web-based purchasing portal that will enable affiliated practices to select hardware from a list of standardized products. It is also pursuing a "just-in-time" policy, which ensures that all necessary components will arrive within a 16-hour window as specified by the individual office.

"Our EHR and PM rollout presents a number of challenges, not the least of which are the logistical hurdles of ensuring dozens of remote offices can effectively and securely share information among themselves and the Medical Center," said Bill Gillis, manager of IS clinical systems for BIDMC. "From pre-configuring the hardware to streamlining the acquisition process to pursuing a staggered deployment schedule, CDW Healthcare will provide us with the level of support and expertise we need to ensure that affiliated physicians can focus on what matters most - our patients."

BIDMC is establishing a model office that will serve as a test site for future deployments. An additional four offices are slated to be fully equipped by June, with subsequent implementations to follow over six-week increments.