Electronic Health Record System

In November 2005, Canyon View Medical Group moved to an Electronic Health Record (EHR) instead of using physical patient charts as they have in the past. This was a major change for our group. We have found that we have many patients who go to different locations in our medical group. In the past, a patient seen at Spanish Fork Clinic, for example, would have a paper chart created and stored on site, which would contain all of the medical information completed at that site. If a patient also was seen at the Art City Medical Center, another Canyon View facility, there would be another paper chart kept at that location with all the medical services, test results, and reports from other doctors. There was no way to make sure that all medical services were current and up to date using paper charts. Therefore we went to an EHR in which any service performed at any of our six current locations immediately updates the medical record. Thus, if a patient is seen at our Santaquin location, and then goes the next day to our Spanish Fork location, the doctor there will have immediate access to the information gathered at the Santaquin site.

This new system cost approximately three quarters of a million dollars to install, and included extensive computer programming, training of staff and doctors in proper usage of the EHR, extracting information from paper charts to the EHR, increasing computer technician services, hiring new computer programmers, increasing monthly service agreement charges, putting in extensive new servers and backup devices, building secure firewalls to prevent unanticipated access to unauthorized personnel, etc. While all of this entailed extensive costs to the physicians, we feel that the quality of patient care available from Canyon View Medical Group has also increased significantly. Records are now more secure and available to any physician who needs access to these records.

We have found the benefits of the new system to be the following:

• No need for patient paper charts
• Patients may be seen at any facility
• Doctors can access files from any location, including home
• Secure server protects data
• More standardized care by visit type
• Better documentation of visits
• More complete health record
• Prescription conflicts are identified before a prescription is issued
• Prescriptions can be faxed or e-prescribed from the exam room directly to the pharmacy
• Patient information handouts can be easily printed
• System permits us to alert patients who have received medications that have been found to have unexpected side effects by the FDA
• We can locate patients with a given condition for which new treatment options are available