Press Releases: National
December 7, 2006
Two California Hospitals Complete Full Transition to KP HealthConnect™
More than 700,000 Californians are fully covered by the electronic health record
OAKLAND, Calif. – Kaiser Permanente today announced two of its California hospitals, West Los Angeles Medical Center and Santa Rosa Medical Center, completed their deployments of Kaiser Permanente HealthConnect™, the organization's electronic health record. KP HealthConnect is recognized as the largest civilian implementation of an electronic medical record system to date.
Members and their providers in the West Los Angeles and Santa Rosa service areas now have fully integrated electronic health records available to them 24/7. KP HealthConnect also offers internet services to members such as a personal health record, secure e-mail to physicians, pharmacy refills, lab results, and extensive online health information.
This transition marks an important milestone in Kaiser Permanente's transition from paper to electronic medical records in clinics and the hospital setting. Last week's implementation of bedside medical record keeping and computerized physician order entry (CPOE) were the final stage of a multi-phase implementation in these two hospitals.
"With paper medical records, critical clinical information is too often unavailable, particularly in the hospital setting," said Louise Liang, MD, senior vice president of quality and clinical systems support. "KP HealthConnect ensures that, regardless of the care setting, our members' records are instantly available, so they can receive the care they need, when and where they need it."
Kaiser Permanente's electronic health record is expected to improve quality, service and patient safety. With KP HealthConnect in place, more than 6 million Kaiser Permanente members are already routinely treated with an electronic chart in the outpatient setting, and more than 8.5 million members can register at kp.org to access their records and manage their health online. Now, in four of Kaiser Permanente's 32 hospitals, nurses, doctors and other caregivers have immediate access to more than 700,000 patients' complete medical history as soon as they arrive.
"KP HealthConnect is helping us protect the health of Kaiser Permanente members," said Marilyn Chow, RN, vice president for patient care services. "The value of real-time access to information across care teams is invaluable."
Last fall, Kaiser Permanente's South Sacramento Medical Center and Baldwin Park Medical Center were the first to finish deploying KP HealthConnect. Teams of clinical and IT experts worked with these facilities to identify both best practices and opportunities for improvements. Recommendations from those two sites served as the foundation for last week's smooth and successful deployments.
About Kaiser Permanente
Kaiser Permanente is committed to helping shape the future of health care. We are recognized as one of America’s leading health care providers and not-for-profit health plans. Founded in 1945, our mission is to provide high-quality, affordable health care services and to improve the health of our members and the communities we serve. We currently serve 8.6 million members in nine states and the District of Columbia. Care for members and patients is focused on their total health and guided by their personal physicians, specialists and team of caregivers. Our expert and caring medical teams are empowered and supported by industry-leading technology advances and tools for health promotion, disease prevention, state-of-the art care delivery and world-class chronic disease management. Kaiser Permanente is dedicated to care innovations, clinical research, health education and the support of community health. For more information, go to: www.kp.org/newscenter.
