Brigham and Women's Hospital, a 777-bed teaching affiliate of Harvard Medical School in Boston, expects to roll out an acute care documentation pilot project later this year.

CIO Sue Schade said the project will help push the hospital closer to Stage 7 of the HIMSS Analytics EMR Adoption Model, the top level of the model, in which hospitals operate in a "truly" paperless environment.

The pilot project, launched in conjunction with Massachusetts General Hospital, includes deploying the MetaVision electronic platform from iMDsoft. Schade said the first phase of the project will focus on rolling out the system to ICU beds and general care beds. The hospital's goal, she said, is to have acute care documentation across the board for inpatient services.

Hospital officials say MetaVision will transition MGH and BWH from paper to electronic medical records, replacing paper flow sheets, assessments and notes and allowing for the sharing of patient data and clinical research.

"It's a huge project," said Schade. Because of the hospital's size, she added, the amount of change will be "significant" – including creating templates and customizations for different clinical services and deciding whether to supercede other documentation systems that have already been put in place.

MGH and BWH are planning to conduct user acceptance pilots of the new system in November. Schade does not have a target year yet for being completely paperless, but said the rollout of the first phase of the acute care documentation project will be a significant step towards that goal.

"When we can say we are a Stage 7, I will be quite pleased and happy," she said. "It is a very positive recognition."

Schade called the EMR Adoption Model "a great framework and reference point for hospitals," but added that any model is open to critique.

"It is not perfect, but everybody seems to agree it's a good model for measuring the progress of an organization, said Dave Garets, president and CEO of HIMSS Analytics. "And there is nothing else out there like it."