UVa rolls out $122 million medical records system

In its priciest project ever, the University of Virginia Medical Center has rolled out a new electronic medical record system.

The project is expected to cost $122 million over seven years, said Dr. Marshall Ruffin, the center’s chief technology officer.

Officials are installing the new software system-wide, replacing older electronic systems and hybrid systems that still used some paper charts and which were often a hodge-podge by department, he said.

This week, the system arrived at about 140 clinics the medical center operates. In December it will be put in place in the cancer center. It will reach the main hospital in March.

“Until you’re actually using it live, there was, I think, a lot of fear and concern and anxiety,” said Dr. A. Bobby Chhabra, co-director of the UVa Hand Center, one of the clinics where the new system is in use.

University officials said that the software they’ve opted for, EpicCare, is rapidly becoming the standard for academic medical centers across the country. Recently passed health care reform requires caregivers to switch to electronic records, but UVa was already in the process of bringing in the new system when the law passed, officials said.

University workers have developed the content the system uses — things such as templates and form letters to speed doctors along — but haven’t altered the source code at all, Ruffin said.

They will continue to customize the software’s function after it’s rolled out, officials said.

Doctors and administrators point to gains in communication and patient safety with the new system.

The system zips results from labs and consultations straight to physicians and automatically checks for medication interactions, both against other medications and against lab results that could indicate such maladies as a weakened kidneys or liver.

According to Ruffin, the system typically reduces what are called adverse drug events by about 95 percent. UVa’s numbers were already very low, he said.

And officials said the new software allows easy and complete printouts for patients when they leave, along with an option for patients to access their medical records online. Other facilities using the same software can access a condensed medical history directly.

In the short-term, officials concede the change will slow caregivers as they learn the new system. To compensate, officials have decreased the number of patients scheduled for care by 30 percent to 50 percent and given extra training to several hundred employees so that they can help their co-workers with the system, Ruffin said.

“It’s a huge adjustment, there’s no question,” Chhabra said, adding that he’s already picking up speed on the new system.

But, aside from the new printouts after visits, patients didn’t seem to notice much, one caregiver said.

“For the most part, I don’t think that they’re really noticing, and I think that’s a good thing,” said Amy E. Radigan, a physician assistant at the hand center.