The implementation of the Logician electronic medical record took approximately five years to complete.  From 1998 through 2002 our technical, clinical, and training resources were devoted almost entirely to rolling out the Logician electronic medical record software.  From its humble beginnings at the Firetower Medical Office, through the over 1600 active users in over 30 ECU clinics today, the EMR system and its end-users have come a long way!  But our work together is not finished…

Now that the EMR is in use in all of ECU’s outpatient clinics, we are shifting our focus a bit.  In addition to providing first-rate customer service for all of your day-to-day user support, data, and customization needs, we continue to work on ways to make the EMR application part of a more complete, functional, integrated set of tools to benefit the providers, staff, and ultimately the patients of ECU Physicians. 

Implementing additional capabilities of the Logician software, developing new interfaces to make the record more complete, creating forms and other tools to help you document patient care and collect data more efficiently, developing new training programs, providing additional reporting and data retrieval capabilities, tuning the system’s performance and availability...our “to-do” list goes on and on.   

Here are some of the projects/accomplishments that you helped us complete in 2003… 

• Implemented Logician at the newly acquired Edenton Surgery clinic 
• Led and coordinated the initiative to standardize clinic identifier codes between ECU Physicians and PCMH
• Implemented the Logician Orders Module in all Family Medicine and General Internal Medicine clinics—lab tests from PCMH are now ordered from within the Logician record
• Implemented new interface engine—resulting in more data and better quality documents in the Logician record. 
• Setup, tested, and implemented a new, more comprehensive interface with PCMH Radiology
• Setup, tested, and implemented a new interface with Quest Diagnostics laboratories
• Successfully piloted the IQMax voice dictation software with a sample group of providers
• Completed additional software customization/training for Leo Jenkins Cancer Center clinics
• Continued participation in and improvement of the BSOM employee orientation program
• Enhanced the BSOM Privacy training program
• Played a key role in the development and presentation of ECU Physicians’ Customer Service training program
• Spearheaded the implementation of key HIPAA-related initiatives, and led the HIPAA training efforts for all affected ECU workforce members
• Through our partnership with ITCS, enhanced Logician failover and disaster recovery capabilities
• Through our partnership with ITCS, routine 24/7 access to Logician is now a reality!
• Rolled out more widespread remote access to Logician (via Citrix technology) for all faculty, residents, and full-time extenders
• Piloted Dragon Naturally Speaking voice recognition software
• Implemented Logician at ECU’s Student Health Service
• Implemented new software to enhance the efficiency of our record/document scanning operations
• Fully integrated Logician into the workflows of the ECU Physicians call center and pharmacy locations

…and here are a few of the initiatives we are working on in 2004--or planning for the very near future:

• Complete the full Implementation of Logician for the Renal Transplant Program (LIVE March 2004)
• Development and implementation of web-based HIPAA training for all workforce members (LIVE Apr 2004)
• Test and implement new interfaces with the IDX practice management system (LIVE April 2004)
• Rollout the Logician Orders Module to all ECU Physicians sites (Leo Jenkins Cancer Center—May 2004, Firetower Medical Office—June 2004, Nephrology and Hypertension Clinic—August 2004, …)
• Integrate LabCorp tests into Logician’s Orders Module, enabling providers to order PCMH and LabCorp tests via the same mechanism (negotiating/planning with LabCorp May 2004)
• Integrate Logician with the IDX billing module—to enhance efficiency of the back office coding, billing, and collections processes (scheduled be PILOTED at the Firetower Medical Office in August 2004)
• Continue software customization/training for additional Department of Surgery clinics—Gastric Bypass (May 2004), Pediatric Surgery, Vascular Surgery, Cardio-Thoracic Surgery
• Test and implement newly-purchased clinical content software which will work hand-in-hand with Logician’s patient care/disease protocols capabilities for certain clinics/patient populations (TESTING began April 2004)
• Enhance Logician’s existing interfaces with PCMH lab, pathology (projected summer/fall 2004)
• Interface with the Orchard Lab Information System used at the Student Health Service (projected to be LIVE October 2004)
• Develop and implement an interface with Eastern Radiology
• Implement Logician for any newly acquired ECU Physicians sites, new outreach or other clinical programs, and in other university-owned and operated clinical facilities as directed
• Provide additional customization for any ECU Physicians clinic that desires to improve efficiency, documentation quality and data collection capabilities…and desires to reduce transcription cost
• Rollout IQMax handheld transcription option for selected providers across the practice who plan to continue using transcription services
• Upgrade to the next version of the Logician/Centricity EMR (projected upgrade: June 2005)  (The next upgrade brings the official brand change from Logician to Centricity—but it is the same product we use today, developed and marketed by GE Healthcare.  
• Fully implement Logician in our Psychiatry clinics

…finally, some things we are planning to Study/Pilot for potential future implementation across the practice (2005 and beyond):

§        Investigate the integration of Logician’s prescription faxing capabilities

§        Additional new or enhanced interfaces with PCMH and the Lifetime Clinical Record (LCR)

§        Investigation of Patient Data Entry programs such as PatientLink, ChartCatalyst, Instant Medical History, or similar products—these tools could potentially be used to collect patient historical information directly from the patient

§        Investigation of tools/applications to enable secure electronic communication with other practices/facilities, and even some of our patient population

§    Interface with the NC Immunization registry

§      Interface with Dialysis system(s)

•  Interface with HealthDirect’s Centramax phone call documentation system

The Brody School Of Medicine  Health Information Systems/Services  LakeSide Annex 2  Greenville, NC  Phone: 252.744.2030  Fax: 252.744.5504   webmaster@mail.ecu.edu