Lifespan getting ready to roll out LifeChart

(Updated 3:15 p.m.) PROVIDENCE – Lifespan is getting ready to roll out a new system-wide electronic health record – LifeChart – in 10 days.
Lifespan, the largest health system in Rhode Island, has partnered with Epic, a Verona, Wis.-based company, on the $100 million project to transform its information technology infrastructure, a project that has been two years in the making.
Dr. Timothy J. Babineau, Lifespan’s president and CEO, discussed the upcoming change in a letter to physicians in the community.
He wrote that Lifespan has been “working hard to redesign the way we deliver care across our system, at our hospitals, our clinics, our community practices and partners.”

“The ultimate goal has been to transform ourselves from a hospital system to a health care system that puts the patient at the center of all that we do,” Babineau wrote.

“Once implemented, we will have made a quantum leap in patient care and information flow by creating a truly integrated health delivery information system,” he continued.
Babineau said LifeChart will create a single record for each patient that may be accessed by clinicians throughout Lifespan, and that record will be in one place, eliminating the need for staff to click in and out of different systems to find information.
Patients also will be able to access their own information through the MyLifespan portal, he said.
“With the implementation of LifeChart, we will be the only health care system in the state to have a single enterprise electronic health record that spans both inpatient and outpatient services – a distinction that affirms our commitment to meeting the health needs of our community,” Babineau said.

He said LifeChart will improve information sharing.
“Once LifeChart is up and running, all community physicians will be able to request access to the system through a portal called LifespanLink … LifespanLink will allow them to view their patients’ test results, physician notes and documentation for care delivered at any of our facilities,” Babineau said.

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“We are excited to enter this new era of truly integrated, comprehensive health information,” he added.

Last fall, Care New England Health System became the first provider in Rhode Island to go live with EpicCare Ambulatory, which integrates physician practices and health care facilities to improve safety and outcomes for patients. It was the first step toward implementation of a system-wide electronic medical record for all Care New England physicians and affiliated practices.

“The success of CNE’s efforts to transform the future of health care will be based in large part on our ability to build, maintain and embrace an information technology framework that supports the triple aim of improving the patient experience, improving the health of the communities we serve and reducing the overall cost of the care we provide,” Dennis Keefe, president and CEO of Care New England, said in a statement. “We believe Epic’s quality design, ease of use and fluid communication will lead to improved safety, better outcomes and higher patient and physician satisfaction.”

Care New England said the $17 million project would bring physician practices into a new era of health IT, encompassing medical records, professional billing, scheduling, provider and patient portals, and secure mobile interfaces.
Keefe, in a memo to staff, said 21 individual practices and 91 providers are now up and running on the new platform and more than 28,000 patients are eligible to utilize the MyChart patient portal, which gives patients controlled access to the same Epic medical records their clinicians use. Registrations for the portal continue to increase as both patients and clinicians realize the benefits MyChart provides, Keefe wrote.

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