State honors Borgess ER doctors for electronic health records initiative

Measures taken by Borgess Health to improve access to a patient’s clinical information have caught the eye of the State of Michigan in a good way.

The Michigan Health Information Technology Commission recently recognized Borgess doctors for their work as leaders and innovators in health information and technology.

Doctors and other staff at Borgess Health have worked to provide information to primary care physicians after patients have visited the Emergency Department.

“Borgess Health implemented an electronic medical record tool in the Borgess Emergency and Trauma Center and also the Borgess Immediate Medical Center at Woodbridge Hills,” says Ed Millermaier, MD, COO & CMO, Borgess Ambulatory Care.  “With this in place, the clinicians are able to make information regarding the patient visit available to other Borgess staff and doctors as quickly as the information is created.”

This eliminates the need to call for records when a patient who has been seen in the Emergency Department or Interermediate Medical Care clinic shows up in a physician’s office shortly thereafter.

Borgess Health and 12 others were honored at a reception during the third annual Wiring Michigan for Health Information Exchange conference in Mount Pleasant.

“Health information technology has proven to be critical part of improving health care quality and decreasing costs,” says Janet Olszewski, Michigan Department of Community Health director.

The goal of the 2010 Health Information Technology Leadership and Innovation Awards is to raise awareness of the use of Health Information Technology and Health Information Exchange in Michigan.

Writer: Kathy Jennings
Source: Lew Tysman, Borgess Health