Children’s Hospital Unveils Private-Label Electronic Health Records System at National Conference for Pediatricians

With more than 7,000 children’s health professionals in attendance at the American Academy of Pediatrics National Conference & Exhibition, Miami Children’s Hospital (MCH) and HealthFusion, Inc. unveiled their new electronic health record system, P.E.D.S. EHR Office Edition.  Dr. Jacques Orces, MCH’s chief medical information officer, and Dr. Sol Lizerbram, chairman and co-founder of HealthFusion, made the announcement at a private event last evening with a mix of reporters, physicians, and healthcare executives in attendance.

The introduction of  P.E.D.S. EHR Office Edition marks a significant and strategic development for the two major healthcare entities. For Miami Children’s Hospital, the partnership signifies the importance of technology as a means of cementing its relationship with referring physicians. For HealthFusion, which developed MediTouch EHR and from which the P.E.D.S. system was created, the partnership represents another opportunity to reach community physicians.

“We considered many EHRs for our community-based physician colleagues, and when we came across MediTouch, we saw it as an elegant solution – one that made sense for all the physicians we work with,” said Edward Martinez, chief information officer for Miami Children’s Health System and the recipient of the 2013 CIO Lifetime Achievement Award. “The system is easy to use, secure and has all the bells and whistles physicians will benefit from in an EHR.”

Pediatricians and their staff who use P.E.D.S. can interface directly with the Miami Children’s Hospital’s data systems and receive patient information. “If a child has surgery at our hospital, her condition, along with other vital information, will be available to her doctor, in record time” said Mr. Martinez.

Additionally, the EHR was one of the first to become Meaningful Use 2014 certified and ready for Stage 2, so physicians will have access to financial incentives paid by the federal government.

A hospital or health system private labeling an EHR system is a novel concept; however, those involved in the venture anticipate this type of partnership will become common. “This is a new trend in the industry,” said Dr. Lizerbram. “Both physicians and hospitals have voiced frustration over the lack of interoperability between different types of electronic health records systems. P.E.D.S. represents the coming together of community physicians and the hospitals they work with, both in terms of technology and improved care. I have no doubt we’ll be hearing about many more partnerships like this one.”

Within the next year, Mr. Martinez hopes to have between 500 and 600 providers live on the P.E.D.S. system. He is also looking to expand the offering internationally, as MCH often communicates with primary care physicians and other providers in Latin America.

P.E.D.S. includes a robust pediatric module which facilitates quick and secure entry of patient-encounter information typical of what a pediatrician would see in his or her practice. In addition to pediatric-specific workflow functions, it also offers important features such as a built-in dosing calculator for children’s prescriptions, linkages with immunization registries, pre-loaded developmental milestones, and easy-to-produce school and camp forms. While it works on all laptop and desktop computers with Internet access, the EHR is native to the iPad tablet which allows users to maintain eye contact with their patient while entering information.