PITTSBURGH, April 25, 2013 – UPMC’s outpatient facilities have been recognized by HIMSS Analytics for their advanced use of electronic medical records (EMRs), a critical component for achieving higher levels of quality, efficiency and safety in patient care.
UPMC’s outpatient sites have achieved “Stage 6” of the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS) Electronic Medical Record Adoption Model, the only health system in Pennsylvania to attain this advanced level and among the fewer than 2 percent of organizations nationally that have reached this stage.
HIMSS Analytics, a not-for-profit subsidiary of HIMSS, scores hospitals and outpatient facilities based on their progress in completing eight stages (0-7) to create a paperless record environment. Stage 6 signifies implementation of advanced clinical decision support, proactive care management and structured messaging capabilities.
“This milestone is a culmination of a systemwide effort,” said Anthony Fiorillo, M.D., medical director, UPMC Ambulatory eRecord. “It reflects the work of UPMC leadership to embrace and champion the ambulatory eRecord initiatives, the tireless effort of physicians and solid groundwork by the ambulatory eRecord team to develop and deploy this technology.”
Approximately 81 percent of UPMC Physician Services Division locations are currently using EpicCare, the ambulatory electronic record technology. The system has been implemented in 827 locations and is used by nearly 11,000 clinicians and staff, including more than 1,750 physicians.
Regularly ranked as one of the “most wired” health care systems in the country, more than a dozen of UPMC’s hospitals are at the highest levels of EMR use, according to HIMSS Analytics. Only about 10 percent of the more than 5,000 U.S. hospitals in the HIMSS Analytics database have reached Stages 6 and 7.
For more information on the HIMSS Analytics adoption model, visit www.himssanalytics.org.
