BURLINGTON, VT - Today, Paulette Thabault, commissioner of the Department of Banking, Insurance, Securities and Health Care Administration (BISHCA), approved Fletcher Allen Health Care's Certificate of Need application (CON) to install an organization-wide clinical information system known as an electronic health record (EHR).  The $57.2 million project will connect virtually every key function in the organization and will take three years to implement.

"We are extremely pleased to receive the State's approval of our electronic health record project," said Melinda Estes, M.D., president and chief executive officer, Fletcher Allen Health Care. "An institution-wide electronic health record will enable Fletcher Allen to achieve new levels of quality and patient safety, while maintaining the privacy of our patients' medical information. Looking forward to 2010 and beyond, implementing an electronic health record will help position Fletcher Allen as a national model for the delivery of high-quality health care for a rural region."

Electronic Health Record Benefits

Benefits of the electronic health record include a number of features to improve patient safety and quality of care:

• medical record information will be available to providers more quickly and in a consistent format
• the length of time between when a medication is ordered and when an inpatient receives it will be shortened
• automatic checks in the system will safeguard against undesirable medication and allergy interactions and incorrect dosage amounts
• legibility of treatment orders and other information entered into the medical record will be improved
• there will be more uniform treatment protocols throughout the organization to improve outcomes and quality of care
• organizational efficiency and cost effectiveness, particularly in patient registration and scheduling, will be improved

Project Outline

Fletcher Allen's multi-year implementation of an organization-wide electronic health record will roll out in phases:

• Phase one will involve implementing the electronic health record across the majority of Fletcher Allen's inpatient areas, the Emergency Department and in the Pharmacy.  Phase I is expected to culminate in the spring of 2009.
• Phase two will involve additional inpatient functions, the Oncology Department, and the development of a data warehouse, which will allow information to be recalled in various ways for reports and analysis.
• Phase three will focus on the outpatient portion of Fletcher Allen's activities, primarily the ambulatory care electronic health record, patient scheduling and a system feature that allows patients access to much of their medical information. 

Making Statewide Connections

Because Fletcher Allen is Vermont's academic medical center and its largest health care provider, the project will be a key element in the continued development of a statewide interoperable electronic health record that will eventually permit clinical information to be exchanged securely among all health care providers in this service area.

Completion of this project will also represent a major step forward in Vermont's health information technology system. It will conform to the State's Health Information Technology Plan, prepared by Vermont Information Technology Leaders (VITL), and the IT recommendations in the state's Health Resource Allocation Plan (HRAP) prepared by BISHCA.

The project will serve all of Fletcher Allen's more than 30 facilities in Vermont, including the approximately 750 physicians who are credentialed at Fletcher Allen - approximately one-half of the physicians practicing in Vermont.

About Fletcher Allen

Fletcher Allen Health Care, together with our partners at the University of Vermont College of Medicine and the College of Nursing and Health Sciences, is Vermont's academic medical center.  Our mission is to improve the health of the people in the communities we serve by integrating patient care, education and research in a caring environment.  Fletcher Allen serves as a regional referral center -- providing advanced care to approximately one million people in Vermont and northern New York -- and as a community hospital for approximately 150,000 residents in Chittenden and Grand Isle counties.  With more than 30 patient care sites and 100 outreach clinics, programs and services throughout the region, Fletcher Allen is committed to being a national model for the delivery of high-quality academic health care for a rural region.