Broadlawns Medical Center’s use of electronic medical records (EMR) has been recognized as among the most advanced in the nation, according to a recent ranking by a nonprofit research group.

Broadlawns has achieved Stage 6 certification for EMR implementation, a designation that has been reached by only 93, or 1.6 percent, of more than 5,100 U.S. hospitals. It is also the first Iowa hospital to reach Stage 6, according to data posted online by HIMSS Analytics, a nonprofit subsidiary of the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS). As of the end of 2009, fewer than 1 percent of hospitals had reached the highest designation, Stage 7, in which a hospital uses a completely paperless health information exchange.

Among Iowa’s 118 hospitals, “probably only 50 percent have gone down the path toward implementing an electronic medical record,” said Perry Meyer, senior vice president of the Iowa Hospital Association. “Cost is a huge barrier to this. Establishing electronic health records is extremely expensive.”

HIMSS Analytics devised an EMR Adoption Model (EMRAM), which uses a 1-to-7 scale to track progress at hospitals and health systems. The EMRAM scores hospitals in the HIMSS Analytics database on their progress through seven stages to create a paperless patient record environment. The average EMRAM score for Iowa’s 118 hospitals was 2.7 as of the end of 2009.



“The objectives of EMR are clearly patient-focused,” said Jody Jenner, Broadlawns’ president and CEO, in a press release. “As we improve care coordination through the exchange of information among our professional healthcare teams, we are at the same time improving quality, safety and efficiency, and reducing health disparities. Furthermore, this evaluation confirms our commitment to the medical home model of primary care whereby patients and families are more engaged in managing their health.”

Broadlawns officials estimate the hospital is saving $660,000 in annual service fees through the efficiencies gained by implementing EMR in all of its inpatient areas. Other cost savings include reduced wait times for information and increased sharing of data through these new processes.

The designation also provides opportunities to receive federal stimulus funding. Under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, which became law in February 2009, doctors in health systems or practices with EMR system that have achieved “meaningful use” will begin receiving bonus payments added to their Medicare and Medicaid reimbursements, beginning in 2011. Over a five-year period, a practice or hospital could receive as much as $44,000 in additional funds per doctor as an incentive to have an EMR system in place.

Meyer said proposed federal rules require hospitals’ EMR systems to meet 23 criteria to be considered meaningful, but he is hopeful that final rules to be issued this spring will reduce those requirements. “Twenty-three criteria to meet is a pretty steep climb when you have a pretty rural state,” he said.

Jenner said Broadlawns is “well ahead” of the projected federal government’s timeline for adoption of the EMR standards, which HIMSS Analytics estimates will require Level 6 or higher compliance.