[UPDATE] I forgot to mention that Kaiser was also recognized as one of the world’s most innovative companies (2010) for its work on EHRs by Fast Company (link to the 2010 list of most innovative companies). I’m probably biased, but Kaiser Permanente’s Sidney R. Garfield Health Care Innovation Centre sounds quite a bit like the Centre for Global eHealth Innovation (or at the very least they both seem to do similar work). perhaps the difference is having a clinical/practical focus versus a research focus.
Not sure if this is really news, but Kaiser Permanente (the largest managed care organization in the US) announced that it has completed implementation of its electronic health record called Kaiser Permanente HealthConnect. Kaiser Permanente HealthConnect “is a comprehensive information system that includes one of the most advanced electronic medical records available. It securely connects 8.6 million people to their health care teams, their personal information, and the latest medical knowledge, leveraging the integrated approaches to health care available”. I haven’t seen Kaiser’s solution but
Kaiser was recently recognized and honored with the HIMSS Analytics Award for achieving Stage 7 for its electronic health record implementation. It’s interesting to see how the presentation made by Dr. Louise Liang in 2005 at the OHA HealthAchieve Convention (summary post) seems to have played out. I’m glad to see that there is still hope for large (health care) organizations to be successful and without too much controversy or fanfare complete the base, foundational projects. Unfortunately, Kaiser’s experience seems to be different from the UK’s where all I keep hearing is that the modernization efforts have received mixed reviews at best. From what I’ve heard, NHS Scotland is now one of the models that is being studied for lessons to be applied in Ontario.
In any case, kudos to Kaiser for staying the course and for continuing to equip a very large organization with electronic tools.