Children's Hospital Colorado Implements Nation's First Fully Integrated Pediatric Electronic Medical Record System

Research firm awards hospital with award for best adoption of electronic tools in U.S.

Children's Hospital Colorado announced today it is the first free-standing pediatric hospital in the country to deploy a fully integrated electronic medical record (EMR) system. Children's EMR system is accessed through the hospital's computer network and is made up of medical records from all patients who are served at any of Children's Hospital Colorado locations. Healthcare information - patient's medical files, the medications they take and health updates during doctor visits - will be stored and accessed in this way, allowing doctors and nurses to retrieve information about a patient at any given time.

The fully integrated EMR system allows caregivers within Children's Hospital Colorado's network, which includes 12 Children's Care Centers throughout Colorado and more than 400 outreach clinics, to share access to records to facilitate seamless care among providers. Records are tightly organized, and all notes made about the patient's medical history are available on the EMR system without the worry that a notation or test result might be missing from a paper file.

"We have had positive feedback from our medical staff members using the EMR software," said Dr. Jim Shmerling, president and chief executive officer of Children's Hospital Colorado. "With this system, we have enhanced the communication between our teams to ensure we are delivering medical care safely and efficiently to our patients. In addition, we are excited to integrate the EMR system into our new facility." 

Children's Hospital Colorado was recognized with an award by KLAS Enterprises, an independent research company, as the setting with the deepest adoption of electronic tools. KLAS conducts research on vendor performance in the health-care industry, gathering statistics from thousands of hospitals and clinics in the U.S. KLAS recently completed an EMR adoption study that documented Children's Hospital Colorado is ahead of its peers in implementing and employing clinical applications in both inpatient and outpatient settings. 

"We are honored to present an award to Children's Hospital Colorado for being the top performer across the board when it comes to EMR adoption," said Kent Gale, president of KLAS Enterprises. "We looked at virtually every hospital in the U.S. currently using an EMR system and Children's Hospital Colorado rose to the top in every category of EMR adoption. It's obvious they take EMR very seriously, ensuring that every physician, nurse and staff member with patient contact understands the EMR system and its positive effects on patient care."

Computerized Physician Order Entry (CPOE) is also part of Children's Hospital Colorado EMR system, allowing physicians to order medication electronically. CPOE saves time for both the doctor and patient and ensures that patients consistently receive the correct medication and dosage.

Since September 2003, Children's Hospital Colorado has worked with top-rated Epic Systems Corporation to implement the technology to establish a fully integrated EMR system. Epic Systems has worked in the information technology health care industry for 28 years.