The Clinical Center at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) is the first federal medical facility to be recognized by a leading healthcare organization for eliminating the use of paper charts and maintaining a superior electronic medical record system for inpatient care. Health Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS) Analytics External Web Site Policy awarded the research hospital Stage 7 certification – the highest level attainable within their electronic medical record adoption model.
The NIH Clinical Center joins a premiere group of 2,200 hospitals out of 32,000 in the HIMSS Analytics database that have reached Stage 7 certification for inpatient care.
While the NIH Clinical Center has been using electronic medical records as far back as the 1970s, it has earned this high level certification for:
- removing the use of paper charts in delivering and managing inpatient care;
- using an electronic system for reporting scientific findings and analyzing patterns of clinical data; to improve quality of inpatient care, patient safety and care delivery efficiency; and
- sharing clinical information, including document and medical images, via standardized electronic transactions with entities that are authorized to treat patients
The Clinical Center’s Clinical Research Information System (CRIS) was evaluated by HIMSS Analytics. CRIS is the primary computer information system used to support patient care, research and administrative activities in the research hospital. The system is used by over 2,750 people daily including physicians, nurses and ancillary and administrative staff. NIH experts rely on CRIS to manage patient protocol information, write medical orders, retrieve laboratory results, document progress notes and other aspects of medical care.
HIMSS Analytics, which is a wholly owned, not-for-profit subsidiary of HIMSS, delivers data and analytical expertise and provides an Electronic Medical Record Adoption Model to analyze which stage an organization has achieved. The certification level, known as Stage 7, is based on a 0 to 7 scale measuring the extent to which an organization has adopted the use of electronic medical records to care for patients and improve their health outcomes.
