C21: Citrus for the 21st Century

Citrus Memorial Health System has moved into the 21st century by making great strides in the delivery of healthcare to our patients. We’ve had some amazing achievements this year including our Healthgrades awards in Orthopedics and Spine Surgery, being named to the HomeCare Elite and achieving Primary Stroke Center status from the Joint Commission.

But, there’s one improvement you may not have heard much about, and that’s C21. The C21 project is our implementation of an enterprise-wide electronic health record. Let me provide some of the history. Citrus Memorial conducted an extensive search of information system vendors with the objective of providing an electronic health record system while reducing the total cost to operate the system. A committee was formed and many employees, including physicians, reviewed the vendor’s systems. After a lengthy analysis, the committee selected McKesson Provider Technologies.

Last winter, project teams were formed and they started building a new information system for Citrus Memorial. It’s a long process. Imaging building the pathway you would follow when you browse through the Internet.

The C21 project will result in an enterprise electronic health record. All patient records will be stored electronically. Not scanned or copied, but stored electronically. Clinicians or those authorized can search on every word or digit in the patient’s record. A patient’s data, from previous hospital visits can be viewed and even combined to see a trend. Orders, results, notes, and other components of the patient’s record will be recorded using the computer systems that the project teams are building. The new system will improve patient safety, quality of care and provide more reliable record keeping.

This new enterprise electronic health record will affect nearly every department at Citrus Memorial.

The electronic records system has been implemented in Home Health and on September 1st CPC Inverness will have the new system in their office. January 24, 2011 is the “go live” date for all inpatients, outpatients, and emergency patients in the hospital.

-Jim Meister, Director of Information Systems