Business Case for replacing legacy electronic medical record systems with one enterprise electronic medical record system
Project Name: System-Wide Electronic Health Record Replacement
Project Description: Implement a single, integrated enterprise electronic health record (EHR) solution/system to replace the two existing electronic healthcare record systems across the organization.
Justification: As reimbursement models transition away from fee-for-services, economic incentives for data sharing are increasingly important to achieve effective transitions of care, population health management, and manage total cost of care. An integrated enterprise electronic healthcare record (EHR) system will enable the organization to benefit from integrating and sharing clinical and financial data across ambulatory, acute, and the post-acute care environment leveraging a central data repository with a single patient record. This focus on the patient will help physicians make good decisions, improves outcomes for patients, and will foster efficient operations. An integrated EHR solution also enables patients to have access to their complete health record and interact with their physicians, schedule appointments, pay their bill, and engage in their care through a single portal. Information system management and maintenance will also be simplified through the consolidation of existing best-of-breed solutions (GE Centricity Acute EHR and the Allscripts Ambulatory HER Systems) and the ability to apply common processes for a single system or solution.
Currently there is dissatisfaction from physicians and other clinicians with the usability of the existing EHR solutions and associated department-based clinical information systems across the enterprise. Investing in a new integrated EHR system with a clear roadmap and strategic vision for adoption will result in significant improvements in satisfaction levels of clinicians and physicians across the enterprise. Connectivity to other institutions will allow for seamless transmission of patient data with a single click.
By moving to a single, integrated EHR System, Scripps will significantly reduce its current Information Services application portfolio by up to 56 applications while increasing functionality across the care continuum with minimal FTE additions. This will result in substantial savings associated with software upgrades, maintaining separate disaster recovery systems, and system maintenance of approximately $200 million dollars over a ten-year time horizon.
