PORT ANGELES — Olympic Medical Center has purchased $1.5 million worth of hardware to launch a single-database electronic medical record system.
Commissioners Wednesday voted 6-0 to approve the purchase of network hardware, data center hardware and licensing, and point-of-care hardware — computers, scanners and other equipment — to go live with Epic digital health records by next summer.
“This is all the hardware that’s going to be used at the point of care and the back-end hardware that’s used to drive the technology in support of the Epic project,” OMC Information Technology Manager Sean Johnson said in a board meeting at the Port Angeles hospital.
Commissioner Jim Leskinovitch was absent because he was in Washington, D.C., with staff lobbying for physician and hospital reimbursement on behalf of OMC.
Two weeks ago, OMC commissioners unanimously approved a $7.6 million agreement with Providence Health and Services to provide Epic electronic health records.
OMC is racing the clock to achieve a “meaningful use” of a certified system by July 1 to be eligible for $7.2 million in Medicare incentives over four years.
To help meet the deadline, commissioners also approved a $65-per-hour agreement with a consultant to assist in the Epic installation.
‘Major priority’
“I think the Epic installation is going to be a major priority in the coming eight or nine months and then beyond once it’s implemented,” OMC Chief Executive Officer Eric Lewis told the board.
“I’m not going to ask you for approving more big contracts because I think we have those approved, but we’ll give you monthly updates on the Epic install, the Lawson [software] install, the hardware install, what’s going on,” Lewis said.
“We’re working very closely with the Providence installation team,” he added.
OMC will use the same version of Epic used by Providence and its partner, Swedish Medical Center.
One of the major reasons OMC affiliated with Swedish 11 months ago was to assist in the installation of Epic.
About 80 percent of hospitals in the Seattle area are using Epic or planning to switch to Epic, making it easier for hospitals and clinics to share patient information.
OMC officials have said a state-of-the-art electronic medical record system will improve patient convenience, participation and care, and improve the accuracy of diagnoses and coordination between providers.
Should OMC fail to implement electronic health records, Medicare will cut reimbursement by 1 percent in 2015, 2 percent in 2016 and 3 percent in 2017.
OMC currently is using five computer systems for health records, each of which has its own interface.
2013 budgets
In other discussion, Lewis reported that OMC departments are working on their 2013 budgets.
“One big challenge we have is budgeting volume for next year,” Lewis said.
“It’s very difficult to predict, but we’re in general budgeting flat volume unless there’s a specific reason. In neurology, we’ll be budgeting a lot more volume because we have a new physician.
“But in general, volume is going to be flat, no more than a 1 percent increase,” Lewis said.
Lower patient volumes contributed to a net loss of $654,000 for the first six months of the year, Chief Financial Officer Julie Rukstad reported in July.
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Reporter Rob Ollikainen can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 5072, or at rollikainen@peninsuladailynews.com.