Medical File

Electronic health records have garnered a ton of attention in the last couple years primarily because of President Barack Obama’s health-care push.

But make no mistakes. EHRs, as they’re often called within the health-care industry, aren’t new.

For Mark Hinman, a Longmont physician who owns his private practice, has been using electronic health records since 1993 — albeit a very rudimentary version.

Hinman joined his dad’s practice in 1993 and did away with the problematic hand-written charts, notes and prescriptions by turning to the then-popular WordPerfect word processing system.

He used WordPerfect macros to help automatically fill in certain information, and track patient info, including things such as immunization records, while saving the information under the person’s name for easy access when he needed it.

He and his dad, John, who started the practice and handed it over to Mark when John retired in 1998, had server access in every patient room where they could access the person’s info and update it while right there.

The patient’s file would be more-or-less updated by the time the Hinmans left the room. The duo could even print prescriptions instead of handwriting them.

In fact, the system worked so well that he used it until 2006 when he decided to get a full-blown EHR system that offered more features.

It was that early adoption that helped land Hinman’s practice a 2010 Excellence in Prevention through Health Information Technology award from the Colorado Foundation for Medical Care.

To even be eligible for the award, practices need to show:

• Improvement in numbers of patients screened for breast or colorectal cancer or number of influenza or pneumonia immunizations given to patients aged 65 or older.

• Sustained, active enrollment in the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services-funded prevention project.

• Continual quality improvement work in at least one prevention area by implementing best practices, participating in Lean-based rapid improvement events and other activities.

Hinman, along with 12 other practices in the state, met and exceeded the criterion. Each demonstrated a commitment to health-information technology.

Due to advancements in technology, along with a kick from the government, electronic health records have come a long way since the early ’90s when Hinman created his own electronic records.

And, to some extent, the purpose of creating those electronic records has changed, too.

In 1993, Hinman and his dad could both type faster than they could hand write notes. So punching keys made sense. It also enabled them to keep tabs on each patient while ensuring the notes were legible and organized.

Now, the records go way beyond readability and organization.

Instead of simply printing prescriptions and having a patient deliver them to the pharmacy, Hinman, and others using EHRs, can fill out a prescription and e-mail it to the pharmacy so its ready for pickup when the patient arrives.

Instead of writing down immunization records and not looking at them until the patient’s next visit, EHRs enable doctors to find every patient who needs a specific shot and notify him regardless of whether he made an appointment.

Instead of various doctor offices having a small portion of the patient’s data from each time she visits, each physician will have access to all her records, ensuring better quality care.

For those of you doctors who may be hesitant to make the switch, Hinman said it’s not easy. It takes a substantial amount of time and money, but in the end, he said it’s worth going electronic.

He said the amount of time saved in terms of filing prescriptions and accessing charts outweighs the upfront effort.

But still, though Hinman has had a version of EHRs for nearly two decades, he thinks it’ll be another five years before electronic health records are widely used, enabling doctors, pharmacists and patients to have access to the important medical information everyone should have.

Ryan Dionne can be reached at 303-630-1943 or rdionne@bcbr.com

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