On Tuesday, Kaiser Permanente officials announced that its HealthConnect electronic health record system is fully operational in its 21 hospitals and 160 medical offices nationwide, the Oakland Tribune reports.
Kaiser says HealthConnect is the largest private sector EHR system in the world. The project cost $4 billion over 10 years, and upgrades will be made to the system over time.
Kaiser spokesperson Marc Brown said HealthConnect lets physicians, nurses and other health care providers access members' EHRs at any of Kaiser's facilities.
In addition, Kaiser says that about three million members also use a Web-based tool called My Health Manager that is included within HealthConnect. My Health Manager lets Kaiser members securely e-mail their physicians and access personal health information online (Avalos, Oakland Tribune, 3/2).