Starting An ACO With '24 Different EMRs'

Mike Miliard | Healthcare IT News | March 4, 2014

One CIO offers perspective on making nearly two-dozen different systems talk with each other

It's fair to say that Linda Shanley has a rather full plate these days.

"We're a 600-bed hospital – we're two hospitals, actually: one's a rehab hospital – and right now we're going through an Epic implementation," said Shanley, vice president and chief information officer at Hartford, Conn.-based Saint Francis Hospital.

"We also have a very large PHO, with probably about 800 physicians," she added. "Approximately 200-plus are employed, and the rest are all community physicians. There are two larger groups: One is about 60 doctors and the other is 30; all the rest are of varying sizes, from one or two physicians, up to 10."

Across all those care settings, "we have about 24 different EMRs," said Shanley.

Put mildy, "That's a challenge."