Kaiser has aches, pains going digital

KAISER HAS ACHES, PAINS GOING DIGITAL
[SOURCE: Los Angeles Times, AUTHOR: Daniel Costello]
Kaiser Permanente's $4-billion effort to computerize the medical records of its 8.6 million members has encountered repeated technical problems, leading to potentially dangerous incidents such as patients listed in the wrong beds. At times, doctors and medical staff at the nation's largest nonprofit health maintenance organization haven't had access to crucial patient information, and system outages have led to delays in emergency room care. Other problems have included malfunctioning bedside scanners meant to ensure that patients receive the correct medication. The HMO's problems come as it plans to expand the computerized system over the next two years to nearly three dozen more hospitals — most in California — where the sickest patients are treated and ensuring patient safety is most difficult. Kaiser's effort, one of the largest and most ambitious electronic medical records projects in the country, is seen as a possible national model. With evidence suggesting that digitized recordkeeping can lower health costs and save lives, President Bush is pushing for every American to have an electronic medical record by 2014. But the glitches illustrate the difficulties a massive healthcare provider might encounter trying to implement a complex computerized system.
http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/front/la-fi-kaiser15feb15,1,5018956.story?coll=la-headlines-frontpage
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