In Joplin's Tornado Emergency, Electronic Health Records Were Key

In the days following last month's devastating tornado in Joplin (MO), one of the reports widely shared locally was news of X-rays having been blown all the way to Springfield, some 70 miles away. The hospital that lost those X-rays, St. John's Regional Medical Center, was badly damaged by the storm and has been shut down. But it still has its patient records intact. The hospital had completed its conversion to electronic health records on May 1 — three weeks before the storm. A mobile field hospital has been set up in the St. John's parking lot, complete with CT scans and surgical theaters. And St. John's patients going to facilities elsewhere are finding that their prescriptions and treatment schedules are available to providers.

"The bottom line is, if we didn't have the electronic health records, we would not be back operational today," says Mike McCreary, chief of technology services for the Sisters of Mercy Health System, which runs St. John's.