Baptist reaches important milestone in electronic health record adoption

MEMPHIS, Tenn., - Baptist Memorial Health Care was recently recognized by the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society, an organization focused on better health through information technology, for reaching "Stage 6" status on its Electronic Medical Record Adoption Model.

This designation is a feat that only 25 percent of hospitals in the country have achieved. All 14 Baptist Memorial hospitals and 120 Baptist Medical Group clinics are using Epic, Baptist’s electronic health record system which was rolled out in phases beginning in Jan. 2014 and has been branded as Baptist OneCare.

Baptist joins just 26 Tennessee hospitals, 15 Mississippi hospitals, and 12 Arkansas hospitals in reaching Stage 6, the second highest level possible.

"Reaching Stage 6 is a huge accomplishment, and it’s a great example of what we can achieve by working together," said Beverly Jordan, vice president and chief information and transformation officer for Baptist. "It proves the Baptist OneCare implementation was a huge success."

Achieving this status means Baptist:

• Appears to have a significant advantage over competitors for patient safety, clinician support, clinician recruitment, and competitive marketing for both consumers and nurse recruitment
• Has almost fully automated/paperless medical records when implementing its information technology applications across most of the inpatient care settings
• Is either starting to evaluate data for care delivery process improvements or has already documented significant improvements in this area
• Has made investments that are within reach of most hospitals and recognizes the strategic value of improving patient care with electronic medical records
• Has begun to create strategic alignments with its medical staff to effectively utilize information technology to improve the patient safety environment
• Is well positioned to provide data to key stakeholders, such as payers, the government, physicians, consumers, and employers, to support electronic health record environments and health information exchanges

"More than anything, reaching Stage 6 means HIMSS recognizes our commitment to patient safety and quality care in our electronic health record adoption," said Jordan. "Because we have reached such a high level of electronic health record adoption, we were the only local health care system that was not penalized for readmissions, and we have seen great improvement with computerized physician order entry adoption and barcode medication administration use."

One of the largest not-for-profit health care systems in the United States, Baptist Memorial Health Care offers a full continuum of care to communities throughout the Mid-South. The Baptist system, which consistently ranks among the top integrated health care networks in the nation, comprises 14 affiliate hospitals in West Tennessee, North Mississippi, and East Arkansas; more than 4,000 affiliated physicians; a multispecialty physician group; home, hospice and psychiatric care; minor medical centers and clinics; a network of surgery, rehabilitation and other outpatient centers; and an education system highlight by the Baptist College of Health Sciences. Baptist has more than 2,300 licensed beds system wide, employs more than 13,000 people and has approximately 85,000 admissions annually.

For more information about Baptist, please visit www.baptistonline.org or call 800-4-BAPTIST.