Fletcher Allen Health Care in Burlington, Vt., is asking the state for permission to build a $57.2 million electronic health record system that will connect about half of the state's doctors, the AP/Boston Globe reports.
The hospital hopes to receive approval from the state Department of Banking, Insurance, Securities and Health Care Administration by the end of the year to begin the three-year project (Gram, AP/Boston Globe, 9/21).
Fletcher Allen President and CEO Melinda Estes said the EHR system, which will be developed by Epic Systems, will cost $31.9 million to operate over the first five years and $8 million each additional year, the Burlington Free Press reports.
The proposed system would link more than 30 Fletcher Allen facilities and serve about 750 physicians credentialed at Fletcher Allen, which is about half of the total number of physicians in the state.
Patients' health care costs will not be directly affected by the cost of adopting the EHR system because the hospital has $56 million left from a previous loan, Estes said (McLean, Burlington Free Press, 9/22).
Estes added that Fletcher Allen is aiming to coordinate with a statewide health information network administered by the Vermont Information Technology Leaders.
According to the AP/Globe, the proposed EHR system is expected to provide the following benefits:
- Make medical information will be available to providers more quickly and in a consistent format;
- Cut the amount of time will shorten between when a doctor orders a prescription and when a patient receives it;
- Ensure safe medication interactions and dosages through automatic system checks; and
- Improve legibility of treatment orders and other information entered into the EHR (AP/Boston Globe, 9/21).
Privacy Concerns
American Civil Liberties Union of Vermont Executive Director Allen Gilbert said that the system's privacy protections "may not be strong enough to prevent unwarranted access to a person's medical records."
However, Estes said she is "very comfortable" that the EHR system will protect patients' privacy. She said the system will protect against external computer hackers and has an audit system that will track who has looked at each record and for how long (
Burlington Free Press, 9/22).