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Martha’s Vineyard Hospital Takes ‘Epic’ Step Toward Fully Integrated Health Care

After months of planning, preparation, and training, Martha’s Vineyard Hospital (MVH) completed an “Epic” journey to a new, fully integrated electronic health records (EHR) system developed by Epic Systems Corporation.

On Saturday, April 29^th, MVH successfully joined other Partners affiliated hospitals in implementing Partners eCare, a comprehensive Electronic Health Record (EHR) program that will significantly change the way patients, doctors, and health care providers communicate and interact with one another.

“We call it, ‘one patient – one record’,” said IT Director Jennifer Lynds. “All of our patients’ medical records, including their labs, x-rays, clinical notes, medications, and more are now online and fully accessible to doctors and caregivers at Partners-affiliated facilities, twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week.”

“What that means,” said Ms. Lynds, âis that regardless of where a patient is obtaining care, be it on-island or off, their health record is now accessible to their healthcare provider. No more having to answer dozens of questions, no more sitting through and paying for additional sets of x-rays, and no more having to remember the names and dosages of the medications they’re on. It’s all right there at their doctor’s fingertips. Providers will be in a much better position to prescribe an effective course of treatment, and patients will receive a greater level of health care.”

“While there are always a few glitches during a major transfer to a new computer platform, overall it was a very smooth cutover,” said Ms. Lynds. “I cannot say enough about the hard work and dedication of our team. The staff embraced this effort from the beginning and without everyone’s help, we could not have had a smoother transition.”

“The true winners in this giant technological leap are our patients,” said MVH CEO Joe Woodin. “Partners eCare is not only safe, convenient, and efficient, but it’s the future of healthcare. It’ll improve the delivery and results of healthcare here on the island as well as give patients more control over their options. I’m extremely proud of the work our staff has done over the past six months to learn and implement this program. They’ve migrated thousands and thousands of records from a number of older systems into the new system and they’ve learned how to utilize its many new features. In some ways it’s been like learning a new language. It’s been a huge undertaking, but the results going forward will be well worth the effort. I’d also like to take this opportunity to thank our patients for bearing with us while we implement the upgrade. Our first priority, as always, is to deliver the highest quality care possible to our patients.”