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White House Invites Oregon Experts to Share Lessons Learned in Health Information Technology

June 18, 2012 -- DeOna Bridgeman, M.D., a family practitioner at Davies Clinic in Canby has a lesson or two she’s learned lately about health information technology. And at the invitation of the White House today, she’s sharing how her clinic and colleagues have helped further Oregon’s reputation as an “early adopter” state in the new, digital world of health care.
June 18, 2012

June 18, 2012 -- DeOna Bridgeman, M.D., a family practitioner at Davies Clinic in Canby has a lesson or two she’s learned lately about health information technology. And at the invitation of the White House today, she’s sharing how her clinic and colleagues have helped further Oregon’s reputation as an “early adopter” state in the new, digital world of health care.

Dr. Bridgeman is due in Washington D.C. today and Tuesday to join President Obama’s team at the “Discussion on How HIT Can Improve Care Quality and Patient Health.” Sponsored by the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology and the Office of Provider Support, Dr. Bridgeman, who is an early recipient of the federal Meaningful Use incentive payments for physicians, will share a compilation of key recommendations from Oregon’s key health organizations including the Oregon Medical Association, the Portland InterHospital Physicians Association, and the state of Oregon’s
Health Information Technology Extension Center (O-HITEC), a division of OCHIN, Inc.

“When I first began practicing medicine I quickly came to realize that I alone could not possibly track what my patients needed based on each and every encounter, including diagnostics, follow ups, compliance, reminders, etc. and so my colleague and I began the process of moving to an electronic health record system,” says Dr. Bridgeman. That was six years ago.

Since that time, Dr. Bridgeman has learned a tremendous amount of information about the challenges and opportunities this newer technology presents. She is sharing the specifics of what she calls her “journey” with senior administration officials and Oregon experts to provide sound recommendations and details about the path her practice’s staff has traveled.

The Oregon Medical Association shares lessons that it has learned as well. “Oregon's position as a national leader in adoption of HIT has created a unique challenge for stakeholders seeking to educate and support physician practices that are earlier on the continuum of adoption,” said the association’s deputy executive vice president, Betsy Boyd-Flynn.” It is essential that the stakeholders work together to meet that challenge. The task of transitioning the health care sector to meaningful use of HIT is a long-term process, perhaps longer than any of us realize.”

Dr. Bridgeman is an active member of the Portland Inter Hospital Physicians Association (Portland IPA), which has provided technical assistance and ongoing support to Dr. Bridgeman and many of its 2,600 members who are implementing electronic health record systems or upgrading current technologies.

The Portland IPA’s Board Chair, Susan Clack, M.D., a family practice physician with Pacific Medical Group, is working with Dr. Bridgeman to provide senior administration officials with a more accurate view from the trenches.

“These technology changes may ultimately provide a better approach to patient protections and safety especially when it comes to confidentiality and shared decision making,” said Dr. Clack. “We are looking to ensure that using these new technologies enhance, protect and preserve the physician-patient relationship. Our recommendation to providers is to use the technology as a key tool in ways that improve clinical-decision making, improve practice administration, enhance efficiencies and enlarge data mining and reporting capabilities. We believe these new technologies will drive us to more comprehensive decision-making to improve the health of the populations we serve.”

Dawn Bonder, director of the Oregon Health Information Technology Extension Center (OHITEC), shares OHITEC’s specific recommendations that include “establishing an organizational leadership team that utilizes change management strategies and communicate, communicate, communicate!” She continues, “Everyone in the practice should have a role and understand that role, both internally throughout organization and externally with other health care stakeholders. We help providers to plan for common challenges, such as reduced productivity, system downtime, workflow changes, etc., as they will happen. We remind them to develop a robust training plan and incorporate in the rollout timeline, and to remember to audit and validate before and during the ‘go live’ time, as well as continuously thereafter.”

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