OAKLAND, Calif., March 3, 2010 — Kaiser Permanente announced today that every medical facility within the health system is now equipped with Kaiser Permanente HealthConnect®, the largest private sector electronic health record in the world. Kaiser Permanente hospitals in Oakland, Richmond and Vallejo in Northern California are the most recent facilities to complete the final phase of electronic health record implementation, which includes bedside documentation, clinical decision support and bar-coding for medication administration.
KP HealthConnect provides care teams with access to patient information and the latest best practices all in one place to further enhance patient safety and quality care while increasing convenience and coordination. The comprehensive health information system securely connects more than 8.6 million people to their physicians, nurses, and pharmacists, personal information, and the latest medical knowledge. Combined with Kaiser Permanente’s integrated approach to health care, KP HealthConnect helps facilitate collaboration among both primary and specialty care teams.
“KP HealthConnect helps ensure that our care teams have the tools they need to deliver high-quality care and the best patient experience possible,” says Andrew M. Wiesenthal, MD, SM, associate executive director at The Permanente Federation. “The electronic health record has proven results in helping us improve the management of chronic conditions and encourages the use of preventive medicine. This milestone is one that we have looked forward to for years, and it is extremely rewarding to have watched an idea, that was questioned by many, turn into a reality.”
In addition to increasing communication and data sharing among care teams, KP HealthConnect also empowers patients to manage their own health. My Health Manager on kp.org provides secure access to a personal health record that includes shared access to the KP HealthConnect clinical record and tools designed to help members connect to the people and services they need to stay healthy. Through My Health Manager, Kaiser Permanente members have timely access to their lab test results, medication information and refill capabilities, summaries of their health conditions, and other important health information at just the click of a mouse. The technology also allows members to securely e-mail their doctor, often saving them the inconvenience of having to go to a physician’s office, or wait on hold to speak with a doctor on the phone. More than 3 million Kaiser Permanente members are using My Health Manager, with more than 27 million logins to the system documented in 2009 alone.
