(Dec. 13, 2002) — Froedtert & Community Health (a partnership of Froedtert Hospital and Community Memorial Hospital of Menomonee Falls) and the Medical College of Wisconsin have entered into a contract arrangement with Epic Systems Corporation of Madison, Wisconsin that will provide leading edge information systems. The College’s primary practice site for faculty physicians is Froedtert Hospital.
Epic will integrate medical records, clinic scheduling, and information storage and retrieval. The system can electronically link hospitals and clinics. It will improve communications and information-sharing among patient care teams.
The first phase of the project will focus on Froedtert & the Medical College outpatient clinics.
The Epic system will:
- Increase access by physicians to shared clinical information
- Create a single registration and scheduling system for Froedtert & the Medical College clinics
- Provide simpler, more efficient interaction between patients and staff
- Improve communications between clinical staff
- Assure security and privacy
- Reduce the possibility of errors
- Interface with a digital, diagnostic imaging storage and retrieval system
This system provides the foundation to develop a patient information system that can link Froedtert & Community Health with its partners. Physicians who refer their patients to Froedtert & the Medical College services or Community Memorial Hospital will eventually be able to track the progress of their patient’s treatment from their office.
“This project demonstrates our commitment to quality care, partnerships, technological leadership, customer service and patient safety and does it within a secure system that safeguards each patient’s confidentiality,” said Dr. Rick Gillis, Medical Director of Clinical Informatics at Froedtert & the Medical College.
“Community Memorial Hospital, Froedtert Hospital and our affiliated physicians are working collaboratively to create an environment of quality, safety and value for our patients,” said Dr. Robert Fisher, vice president of Medical Affairs at Community Memorial Hospital. “Epic is a system-wide initiative to facilitate timely communication among the hospitals, the physicians and patients,” he said.
Implementing Epic’s clinical information systems addresses concerns raised in arecent report from the Institute of Medicine’s Committee on Quality of Healthcare in America. That report emphasizes the need for healthcare providers to upgrade their information technologies and eliminate handwritten clinical information by the year 2010.
Froedtert is a not-for-profit, specialty and teaching hospital affiliated with the Medical College of Wisconsin and Froedtert & Community Health (a joint venture with Community Memorial Hospital of Menomonee Falls) and United Hospital System (an affiliation with Kenosha Hospital and Medical Center and St. Catherine’s Hospital in Kenosha and Pleasant Prairie). Web site: www.froedtert.com
Community Memorial Hospital specializes in heart and vascular services,advanced surgical services, women's health and cancer treatment. Community Memorial Hospital is a member of Froedtert & Community Health. Web site: www.communitymemorial.com
The Medical College of Wisconsin is a private academic institution providing education through its medical school, graduate school, affiliated residency training programs and continuing medical education programs. Approximately 700 faculty physicians are members of two medical group practices. Web site: www.mcw.edu
Epic is an award-winning developer of integrated inpatient, ambulatory,and payer systems. Epic provides the information backbone for many ofthe largest, most progressive healthcare organizations in the country,linking thousands of concurrent users with a shared source of relevantclinical, access, and financial information. Epic fulfills the promiseof an integrated enterprise with optimized work flows, sub-secondresponse times, and unmatched customer service. Web site: www.epicsystems.com