In The News: Island Hospital investing to upgrade electronic records

NEWSWIRE:  October 5, 2016

DATELINE:  Anacortes, WA

Soon there will be a new way for doctors and other medical professionals to help patients and keep an eye on medications, allergies and potential problems at Island Hospital in Anacortes, Washington.  

The hospital Board of Commissioners approved an agreement last week with Meditech, a Massachusetts-based service and software company, for a new electronic medical records system. This new system will cost the hospital about $12 million over the next seven years.  New full-time employees to help run the system, implementation, hardware, ongoing maintenance and subscription fees will all be a part of the new cost.

It will take about 15 months to fully design, test, and implement the system.  The middle of 2018 is when it should be up and running, hospital Director of information Systems Tom Bluhm said.  

This system will be able to allow doctors to access patient information more efficiently, as well as be able to connect with the records of other doctor offices and hospitals, bringing all of a patient’s information together.  While another system was implemented in 1992, with upgrades done along the way, Bluhm says it was time to step up and find a new one. 

Read the full article here.