The 100,000,000th Electronic Order – Results reviewed by patient online :)

Two proud health information technology leaders from Group Health Cooperative, Terri Boehm, Director of Web Services, and David Kauff, MD, let me know of an important milestone, relayed by another great technology leader, Emily Hull, Associate Director of Clinical Informatics:

Subject: 100,000,000 orders in EpicCare!

Reaching the 100 millionth order placed in EpicCare gives us a wonderful opportunity to focus on the shared accomplishments of many parts of Group Health. Even better, this order represents many of the value-added features of care at Group Health: the order was placed by a hospitalist working in Lidgerwood Family Practice, the test was processed by PAML, and the patient has already reviewed the results on MyGroupHealth.*

To translate a bit – the order was placed electronically in an Eastern Washington Medical Center, it was transmitted securely to an outside laboratory, and results were simultaneously transmitted back to the patient (via the web portal) and the physician (via the electronic health record), securely, at the same time.

After 100,000,000 orders, what used to be abnormal (patients being involved in their care) is now normal, and the staff that manages the electronic health record system considers the patient as important a stakeholder in the use of the technology as those who care for her/him. This is the positive transformation that awaits other organizations who design and implement systems with patients at the center.

*A reminder that staff do not have access to patient health record information in the example above, just the information that messages were delivered.

Ted Eytan, MD