Kelsey-Seybold Clinic Invests In Electronic Medical Records
$25 Million System Improves Patient Care, Coordination
HOUSTON (May 6, 2009)—Kelsey-Seybold Clinic has already taken a step viewed by federal health care policy leaders as critical to improving care and reducing cost: it has invested $25 million in an electronic medical record (EMR) system.
The EMR links Kelsey-Seybold physicians throughout its 18 Houston-area locations. Kelsey-Seybold physicians practice in more than 40 specialties, and the new EMR allows them to contribute to and view the same medical record for each patient. This facilitates ease of consultation and care coordination.
“I can e-mail a subspecialist colleague and ask him or her to review a patient I’ve just seen,” explained Patrick Carter, M.D., M.B.A., Kelsey-Seybold’s chief of Family Medicine. “This can often save the patient an extra trip to see the specialist.”
According to a 2008 study, only 17 percent of American physicians had switched from paper to electronic recordkeeping, and only 4 percent had adopted fully functional systems like Kelsey-Seybold’s. Federal policymakers recognize the need to improve these statistics and emphasized EMR adoption as a priority for the $19 billion in stimulus funding set aside for improving health care information technology.
“This investment gives our physicians the latest clinical information to make the best treatment decisions,” Dr. Carter said. “I am excited about what this means for our patients.”
Most Kelsey-Seybold physicians now use the EMR, and it will be rolled out to those practicing a few remaining subspecialties over the next year. In addition to fostering effective care coordination, Kelsey-Seybold’s EMR enables after-hours access, interface with hospital EMRs and clinical decision support, which means relevant information about treatments, medications and medical history pops up on the screen when patient information is entered into the system.
About Kelsey-Seybold Clinic
Kelsey-Seybold Clinic is Houston's premier community-based physician group, founded in 1949 by Dr. Mavis Kelsey in Houston's famous Texas Medical Center. More than 350 Kelsey-Seybold physicians practice at 18 locations in the greater Houston area. Medical services offered by Kelsey-Seybold include outpatient medical care in more than 50 medical specialties, outpatient surgery centers, nationally accredited Breast Diagnostic Centers and Cancer Centers, advanced radiology services, onsite and online Kelsey Pharmacy services and secure communication portals for patients to communicate with their health care team. Kelsey-Seybold has proudly served the National Aeronautics and Space Administration since 1966 and today provides medical services onsite at the Johnson Space Center, the White Sands Test Facility in New Mexico, and in Moscow.
