Kaiser Permanente has completed the rollout of its outpatient electronic health record system in nine states and the District of Columbia, enabling their 13,000 physicians in 421 offices to have electronic access to their patients' medical records. Kaiser Permanente HealthConnect is the world's largest privately funded electronic health record, covering 8.7 million members.

"Electronic medical records are a cornerstone tool for improving quality and safety in healthcare," George Halvorson, chairman and CEO of Kaiser Foundation Health Plan and Hospitals, told Health Care IT News. "Doctors should have all of the information about all of their patients all of the time. Only a computer and an EMR can do that work."

Deployment of KP HealthConnect began in Hawaii in 2004 and ended this month in Northern California. Physicians can access the patient's medical records from their offices or from anywhere they happen to be.

"That's true during normal work hours and it's even more true in off hours and times of crisis," Halvorson added. "During the 2007 wildfires in San Diego as our care facilities within the fire lines were closed, members were contacted and directed to other open facilities. When they arrived, care teams whom they may have never seen before had full access to their records via KP HealthConnect. We can now ensure continuity of care for our members in a time of crisis with this database."

In addition to the outpatient medical record, 13 of Kaiser Permanente's 36 California hospitals are fully deployed. Fourteen additional hospitals are slated to roll out KP HealthConnect's inpatient capabilities by the end of the year.

The deployment of KP HealthConnect has proven integral to improving patient safety, coordination of care, enhancing documentation, facilitating clinical decision-making and adherence to evidence-based clinical guidelines and provider and operational efficiency, Kaiser officials said.

After the implementation of KP HealthConnect in the outpatient setting, Kaiser Permanente experienced an immediate and marked increase in the efficiency of outpatient care, in large part due to 24/7 availability of members' clinical information at every member contact, according to Kaiser.

Physicians reported that, in many cases, electronic health records enabled them to identify and resolve patients' health issues in the first contact. One survey showed that, with the use of electronic health records, medication administration times and doses were more legible and correct (85 percent), and clinicians believed the electronic medication administration system provided a safer and more reliable communication tool (75 percent).

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