On Tue, Nov 5, 2013 at 8:29 PM, PeterK <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

> NHS trust to sideline £21m e-records implementation - 05 Nov 2013 -
> Computing News
>
> Rotherham NHS Foundation Trust is abandoning an electronic patient records
> (EPR) system that it has spent more than £21m implementing, and which only
> went live in 2012, after what its board describes as a "catalogue of
> failure".
>
> The Meditech 6.0 system, produced by US-based Medical Information
> Technology, was procured in August 2009, while services supplier Perot
> Systems was appointed to do the implementation.
>
> Source:
>
> http://www.computing.co.uk/ctg/news/2305105/nhs-trust-to-sideline-gbp21m-e-records-implementation
>

It may be important for those in the US seeking to support the concept of a
"Nationally Linked Health Record Registry" to pay attention to what has
happened in the UK for a few reasons:

1) THIS IS NOT the FIRST deployment of this type by the NHS that failed...
the first one was in 2005 http://blogs.computerworld.com/node/2017

This link gives you an idea of how deep they had gotten into that initial
deployment before it failed
http://www.computing.co.uk/ctg/news/1830110/nhs-it-makes-steady-headway

2) Because this newly abandoned system began deployment in 2009, went
'live' in 2012... what will happen to whatever content was collected in it
over the 3+ years it was working?

Depending on HOW the records got into the system (direct entry into tables,
e-forms, etc) or scans/images of physical files, etc  AND what format
they're in... it may not be possible to get them back to a usable state. Or
it may be so costly, they need to establish a method to continue to have
access to records entered into the system for the required retention
period.

LESSONS LEARNED, US Healthcare Information Professionals... DHHS better pay
attention to this "house of cards" and focus on the need to ensure an
effective system exists for managing the content going into these systems,
or the whole concept of "meaningful use" becomes meaningless.

36CFR 1236 gives extremely detailed guidelines about what has to happen
when a decision is made to store Federal Records in electronic information
systems. Many of the health records related to Government employees,
Contractors, Military Personnel, their families and others receiving care
under Federally funded programs  *ARE* Federal records.

Somebody should be making sure that safeguards are built into these systems
to ensure persistent access, to migrate and convert, to select appropriate
media and regularly refresh it, and to not make changes that result in
technological obsolescence that leave records inaccessible.   Sufficient
funding has to be set aside to provide proper care and feeding for the
systems and the data stored in them.

Larry
[log in to unmask]

-- 


*Lawrence J. Medina Danville, CARIM Professional since 1972*

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