Vermont’s Fletcher Allen Health Care recently launched the outpatient phase of their electronic health record project just five month after implementing the inpatient phase of the project. Fletcher Allen has joined only 1.5 percent of healthcare facilities nationwide in implementing such a comprehensive computer system for patient care.
The Patient Record and Information Systems Management (PRISM) Fletcher Allen’s EHR is now fully functional at Aesculapius Medical Center in South Burlington Vermont. The Medical Center serves 18,000 people and is one of Fletcher Allen’s ten primary care clinics. By the end of 2010, all of Fletcher Allen’s outpatient clinics both primary care and specialty care will go “live” with PRISM.
In June, the system went “live” in Fletcher Allen’s inpatient areas, pharmacy, emergency department and some hospital outpatient areas on the Medical Center Campus in Burlington as well as the Walk-in-Care Center providing inpatient rehabilitation service at the Fanny Allen Campus in Colchester in June 2009.
“We’re very pleased with the progress we’ve made during the inpatient implementation, which has enabled us to start implementing PRISM in our outpatient clinics. We’re now able to offer patients the same enhancements in safety, efficiency, and coordination of care that we provide to patients admitted to the hospital”, reports Paul Taheri MD., President of Fletcher Allen’s Faculty Practice.
Fletcher Allen Health Care as part of the University of Vermont’s Academic Medical Center, partners with the College of Medicine and the College of Nursing and Health Sciences. Fletcher Allen serves as a regional referral center and community hospital for 150,000 residents in Chittenden and Grand Isle counties, has more than 30 patient care sites, and provides 100 outreach clinics with programs and services. In total, Fletcher Allen is providing advanced care to approximately one million people in Vermont and Northern New York.
