Implementing a Standard Electronic Perinatal Health Record in a Multihospital System: A Challenge As Great As Turning the Titanic

Abstract

Professional Issues Poster Presentation Purpose for the Program At the first Perinatal Work-Group meeting in 2002, physicians of a large, multihospital system established a perinatal electronic health record as a top priority. Soon after, the electronic health record became not only a company priority but also a national priority. The federal government established electronic health record standards and began incentivizing electronic health record development. Concurrently, quality measure groups and payers began demanding accurate, timely data that could be produced only with an electronic health record. This environment provided the opportunity for perinatal leaders of the system’s 111 perinatal services around the country to begin the journey to an enterprise electronic health record.