Victoria’s Northern Health won the large agency category at the Sir Rupert Hamer Records Management Awards 2011 for a semi-electronic scanned medical record system.

With five sites under management, including the 412-bed Northern Hospital, medical records storage had become an issue. So in 2008 a solution was implemented to scan all medical record documentation as completed by doctors and other clinicians.

All medical record documentation is scanned in the Australian-developed Infomedix medical records solution. Infomedix boasts it has more live customers implementing a scanned medical record than any other vendor in Australia.

The solution is known as the Clinical Patient Folder (CPF) through which all of the scanned forms can be viewed by hospital staff in association with the patient record.

Prior to the new scanning solution, Northern Health implemented a single Patient Master Index, which is a unique identifier that follows an individual across the five campuses.
Terri Letizia, Chief Health Information Manager, Client Data Management at Northern Health, said, “We are really only starting to see the benefits now. These include reduced staff count, less on-site storage space and $A47,000 p.a. saving in consumables costs.

Kodak scanners
The solution called for the acquisition of 10 Kodak document scanners with barcode divider sheets used to direct where the PDF is placed in the patient medical record and in what order.

There is some direct entry of data of patient information through the electronic progress notes functionality as used by staff in Northern Health’s outpatient departments, however staff currently have the option to choose between hand written documentation and electronic progress notes.  The electronic progress notes don’t have the functionality to draw diagrams, which means some staff must choose to hand write their notes.

“We are working with Infomedix to further develop the software to capture more electronic information. At present the software only allows for freeform text entry through electronic progress notes. We would like to look at implementing more electronic medical record forms.

“We continue to work with our clinicians in delivering a more effective semi-electronic medical record.  Work is currently underway to deliver functionality within CPF that will allow our Obstetricians to manage antenatal patients more effectively.”

The introduction of the Clinical Patient Folder (CPF) has also caused a reduction in courier runs and costs between sites in the delivery of paper based medical records from three daily runs to one, saving the organisation $A30,000 per year.

Scanned medical records have reduced the rate of misplaced documents, the physical lifting of large multiple volumes and moving crowded compactus shelving to locate and file medical records.

Northern Health is still retaining the scanned paper records off-site, as work continues in gaining disposal authority for the destruction of scanned documentation.

“As a result of changes to the rules of evidence set out in the Evidence Act, the production of a print out of an electronic record is now admissible and may be just as good as producing the original document.  Northern Health is currently working on a Digitisation Activity Plan for medical record documentation which will need to be approved by the Health Services’ Insurers in meeting their requirements for destruction,” said Terri.

Northern Health CEO, Greg Pullen, said making long term investments into its capabilities ensures Northern Health is prepared to care for northern Melbourne’s rapidly growing community.

“Northern Health’s achievement in winning in the large agency category supports our ability to adapt to the increasing number of patients treated each year,” said Mr Pullen.

“During critical situations where patients may require care from Northern Health’s Emergency Department, Primary Injury Clinic or Crisis Assessment and Treatment Teams, clinicians have direct access to patient files meaning treatment can commence immediately with the ability to refer to the patient’s medical history.

“Northern Health is continuing to investigate and utilise new technology across all areas of the organisation to deliver quality health services to our community,” Mr Pullen said.