The recent announcement by Detroit Medical Center officials that the deployment of their EMR has reaped five million dollars in savings and improved patient safety is tempered by the fact that the hospital's journey began in 1998. Furthermore, DMC pumped $50 million through the years to get its system up and running. This should not discourage hospitals that are just now implementing EMRs.
The most important takeaway is that the news highlights the long journey of EMR adoption and optimization, but a journey in the right direction of improved patient safety and overall higher quality of patient care. Each year of utilization will bring a healthcare system closer to greater benefits. Case in point: DMC has seen two consecutive years of major improvements in patient safety and savings.
Rather than a big bang approach, DMC deployed a 12-year-long strategy of getting its eight hospitals connected with its EMR. Hospitals in the beginning stages of implementation will know which approach is best, given its level of support from clinicians, number of facilities, state of health IT outside of EMRs, and so on. Every hospital is different, and how it chooses to deploy its EMR should be carefully considered.
DMC's journey began with a view of itself as a hospital of the future and for providing the best healthcare around. That's a good overarching goal to begin the process. When you have a goal like that, every process and procedure that is created should support the goal. Rather than implement an EMR to collect federal incentive money or to avoid penalties - although frankly that is the cost of doing business in the near future for hospitals - the impetus to implement an EMR should be to deliver the highest quality of care and improve patient safety.
DMC has achieved both goals.
Photo by j/k_lolz courtesy of Creative Commons license.
