PORTLAND, MAINE – “One patient, one record,” the goal of Maine’s leading healthcare system MaineHealth, in implementing a system-wide electronic health record, is nearly half way there when it comes to its physician practices. 

MaineHealth, a nationally recognized not-for-profit group of leading hospitals, physicians, and healthcare organizations in Maine, began its conversion process to what it calls its Shared Health Record (SHR) in October of 2009. The SHR replaces former electronic systems - like the Logician system utilized by Maine Medical Center’s Internal Medicine, Family Medicine and Outpatient Departments – or paper records, as is the case with most MaineHealth practices.

“This software provides the opportunity to dramatically improve patient care and the health of the communities we serve,” said Brenda Maloy-Fiorini, director of the MaineHealth SHR Ambulatory Program. “The integrated system allows patients to take a more active and engaged role in their health by partnering with their physicians in their care. The result is better health outcomes and real-time sharing of information between treating physicians through a single database across the full spectrum of ambulatory and inpatient care.”

“Before this project, a very small number of physicians used an electronic health record system,” added Maloy-Fiorini. “Our goal is to put electronic health records in all the practices that are in the MaineHealth family as well as work with independent physician practices who see the value of partnering with MaineHealth.  We’re now about forty percent of the way there. Essentially, we’re shifting to a whole new system.”

Since its 2009 launch, she says, nearly half of MaineHealth’s physician practices are now live on the SHR.  This includes most MMC Partners’ practices. The practices and outpatient centers of Pen Bay Healthcare, a major member of MaineHealth, are scheduled to convert in the first quarter of 2012.

“Robust” is the word Maloy-Fiorini uses to describe the SHR. Rather than being tailored specifically for a private practice, the software by Epic Systems Corporation is designed to integrate an entire healthcare system, like MaineHealth. Hospitals, specialists, and primary care physicians will have access to the same data.

What does this mean for a patient?  “Let’s say you come into your physician’s office,” explains Maloy-Fiorini. “The staff will use a single system to do your scheduling and registration. The nurse will access this information and record your vital signs and the purpose of your visit, and then the physician will quickly access this information along with any pre-ordered lab results and send referrals and prescriptions for refills…. data all at their fingertips.”

“The major impetus was that our entire MaineHealth system, including specialists and hospitals, will be on the new system within a few years,” said Ann Skelton, MD, chief of the Department of Family Medicine at Maine Medical Center (MMC). MMC is one of MaineHealth’s most prominent members. Its Family Medicine Centers of Portland and Falmouth went live and converted from Logician to the SHR on June 8.

“This has the great advantage of allowing everyone who cares for a patient to share the same record.”

Having access to the same record eliminates duplicative and unnecessary testing and allows easier management of medications resulting in better patient safety, said Skelton. What’s more, “it streamlines registration and scheduling so that patients don’t need to repeat basic information over and over. It makes the entire process much less confusing for the patient.”

 Waldo County General Hospital is a prime example. Slated to convert in the fall of 2012, the Belfast care center will experience a palpable paper-to-electronic shift that will not only bolster provider power, but will hopefully increase patient participation, said Waldo County Healthcare’s director of operations, Daniel Bennett. “It’s about giving patients more of a role in their own care, and giving them access to their own health information,” said Bennett. The system’s online patient portal offers patients access to their health record 24 hours a day, he said, “and we know that patients who are engaged in their care have better results.”

It will be a demanding transition, yes, but both Bennett and Maloy-Fiorini also agree: it’s time to shed the paper.

To succeed at a “go-live” date, a practice has to be prepared. SHR implementation team members ready staff and physicians by providing classroom training days and virtual learning opportunities to familiarize them with Epic.  The training program is strong, says Maloy-Fiorini, and it helps to dispel the angst that comes with converting to an entirely new system.

Once the hurdles are overcome, however, officials like Bennett are looking towards projects like the SHR to revolutionize healthcare in Maine.

The way that care is provided throughout the nation is shifting, he explains, and health improvement and preventive care will become more imperative than ever. “There are challenges and it’s a big change, but I think we’re keeping an eye on all the benefits.”

Maloy-Fiorini knows the “One patient, One record” vision forms the basis for the future.

“Think of a system that is totally connected and interactive. I’m talking about physicians throughout the different areas of a hospital, physicians in private practices, specialists, and other providers. They can all be connected through this system, focusing on holistic patient care. So care becomes truly centered around the patient.”