May 14, 2021
In this podcast, Dr. Chris Mast, Vice President of Clinical Informatics with EPIC, discusses how electronic health medical records (EHRs) are essential to today's modern day medical world, about implementing and using an EHR for improving patient care, and what the EHR future holds for healthcare.
Enjoy the podcast!
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CME Evaluation: "An EPIC Perspective on EHRs with Dr. Chris Mast"
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SHOW NOTES:
CHAPTER
1:
The importance of medical records has grown in
the last 100 years, starting with the first paper medical records
developed in the 1920s. Even back then, standardization was
important, the American College of Surgeons established an
association to achieve just that. In 1965, Medicaid and Medicare
were developed and pushed the development of health information
systems. The 1970s brought computerized physician ordering systems.
The first information system was also rolled out in the University
of Vermont Medical Center's gynecology unit. In the 1980s, growth
in the computer world led to new possibilities in healthcare.
Personal computers became more affordable. Dragons systems
developed voice recognition software and by the late 1980s, Windows
software was developed. From 1990 to the late 2000s there was the
boom of the World Wide Web, ICD-30 coding, and legislation for the
increase of electronic health records (the HiTech Act). Between
2008 and 2015 electronic health record adoption
doubled.
EPIC is a privately owned company, which Dr. Mast states has allowed the company to focus on the long term, making sure that the software is a joy to use, and provide value to healthcare providers.
CHAPTER
2:
EPIC is an
integrated comprehensive electronic health record system that
offers many different functions to promote better patient and
health care interactions. The features of EPIC provide a
one-platform system, thereby eliminating the multiple database
platforms used in the past or are still being used
today.
One of the big benefits of EPIC is the ability to share pertinent patient information across organizations that both work with EPIC. However, with increasing interoperability (much like cell phones bounce off other network cell towers), communication between different EHR systems increase. This interoperability will only increase as standardization of data, like how a specific diagnosis - like heart failure is coded, improves. Dr. Mast states, "playing the percentages, you will be able to connect, if not now, in the near future".
The interoperability of EPIC assists in promoting care everywhere as well as the newer share everywhere features which is a limited one-time access to care everywhere for the non-EPIC health system evaluating a patient.
CHAPTER
3:
Connect customers, organizations that
use EPIC software in partnership with another
organization, benefit from a move-in ready EHR where they can start
using the system immediately. The example used, is like moving into
a furnished apartment, without having to find, build or organize
everything. It's already there, ready to use.
EPIC is not a tiered system. There is not a platinum or gold level status. However, not every organization needs every module available on the EPIC platform. What kind of support will an EPIC customer receive? In the Connect scenario, there are essentially two groups of assistance. The connect partner, with their knowledge and support as well as the support team from EPIC.
There is also personalization of EPIC systems to create the features and information important to the workflow of an individual clinician.
CHAPTER
4:
EPIC is more
than just a documentation software. Within the system, there are
algorithms and models that allow the computer to analyze data and
predict, say, patients that are trending towards sepsis. This
information can be used to direct resources earlier, intervene
earlier, and improve outcomes. Another example of AI modeling would
be a patient discharged with congestive heart failure, and
submitting daily weights. Modeling can trend that data and predict
those that might fail outpatient treatment, provide opportunities
for early interventions, and again, improve
outcomes.
That is the present. The future of AI in electronic health records is endless. Ambient speech recognition is currently being trialed, providing documentation, transcription and even the possibility of cueing up orders. It is the fundamental theorem of informatics at work: clinician plus computer is greater than clinician alone.
Thank-you for listening.