North Berkshire's Lead in e-Health Opens Door to Federal Funding
 Hospital officials and partner physicians and staff gathered in the Clark House dining room on Thursday for an update and recognition of their efforts in medical information technology. Top, Micky Tripathi of the MAEHC presents a plaque to David Delano, NBH's IT head. |
The Northern Berkshire e-Health Collaborative was one of three pilot programs in the state selected four years ago to advance the use of electronic medical records. The program includes North Adams Regional Hospital and the medical staff and physician practices that work with it.
Since the pilot program was launched, North Adams has become a model for sharing and utilizing the digital records. David Delano, director of information technology for Northern Berkshire Healthcare, said the region has a 91 percent "opt in" rate of patients, or some 41,000 out of the 45,000 in the primary service area.
"That shows our patients are supportive and buy in to the process, said Delano. "There have been roughly 4,000 accesses to the shared records in that time. ... Four thousand opportunities for clinicians to have access to information they might not have had access to to provide better care for patients in our community."
The number may not sound like a lot, he continued, but "once is good enough if it saves somebody's life or prevents a medication error or some other adverse events, so we've had 4,000 opportunities to do it right."
 Tripathi talks about incentives for going digital. |
"We had a lot of faith and confidence in North Adams and it was paid back in full," said Micky Tripathi, president and chief executive officer of the Massachusetts eHealth Collaborative, adding later that "North Adams has been unbelievably successful, as successful as we would have hoped in every dimension."
North Adams is unique in the nation in its capabilities; many health-care communities are still operating at 10 percent to 15 percent participation rate. This provides not only a strong base to build on but potentially puts the region in first in line for millions in federal funding through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.
Beginning in 2011, and each two years after that, benchmarks will be set for more funding for both hospitals and doctors providing care to Medicaid and Medicare patients, said Tripathi, who co-chairs a federal working group on information exchange that has made recommendations on benchmarks to Medicaid/Medicare. The goal is to ensure "meaningful usage" of the data being compiled.
 Palmisano thanks physicians, especially Dr. Anthony Smeglin, for being visionaries. |
Doctors could see from $44,000 to $65,000 in federal incentives.
By 2015, the goal is that the one missing dimension in the system — the patient — will have not only access to their electronic medical file but be far more active in managing their own health care and that of their families. Right now, a lot of legal and technological hurdles must be overcome to make that happen, said Tripathi.
"Why were our doctors willing to do this?" said NBH President Richard Palmisano. "Because it improved care outcomes for our patients. We know that health information technology is seen by the current administration and others as the way that we're going to revolutionize care delivery."
