Hospitals in pursuit of excellence

Improving Systemwide Care and Efficiency by Leveraging EHRs

The Problem

DMC wanted to chart a new path for fulfilling its mission of offering the best possible care to its urban, sometimes struggling communities. It also sought to distinguish itself in a highly competitive health care market. To meet these goals, the health center became an early proponent of health information technology as a foundation for improving performance. However, an 2004 attempt to implement an electronic health record at one hospital failed due to lack of clinician involvement and systems that were not stable and robust enough to deliver the requisite availability and performance.

The Solution

Still convinced of technology's efficacy, DMC Chief Executive Michael Duggan hired Mike LeRoy as CIO and set a goal of rolling out a system-wide EHR in under two years, rather than spread it out over four to five years as initially envisioned. LeRoy began by shoring up the IT systems with more servers and computers on hospital floors. Also importantly, he joined with DMC's chief nursing and medical officers to run the EHR project. "We didn't want the EMR to be seen as IT-led. That hadn't worked well in the past," says LeRoy. "We wanted it to be known as clinician-led."

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