UCLA EHR project gets help from Sarah Kramer
UCLA Health System’s electronic health record program has a new name and a new leader: former eHealth Ontario CEO Sarah Kramer, according to recent announcements on the program's website.
As the executive director for UCLA’s CareConnect program, Kramer is working as a consultant and is not on the staff at this time, officials said. The website says that the new name reflects both the breadth of the program and the benefits that will result from its implementation, which is slated for 2012-2013,
According to the announcement, Kramer’s first area of focus will be to work in collaboration with UCLA Health System's clinical leadership to ensure the electronic health records program is designed to support the delivery of leading-edge patient care, research and education at UCLA.
The CareConnect program is using technology from Verona, Wis.-based Epic, but the actual implementation will be tailored to UCLA's needs, according to a statement by Michael Steinberg, MD, chair of the executive oversight board, on the CareConnect website. The rollout will start with scheduling, registration, billing and ambulatory clinicals followed by inpatient clinicals.
[See also: EHR network in Minnesota to connect 10 healthcare organizations]
"The CareConnect program is a once-in-a-generation opportunity to work together as an organization to really change how we deliver health are," said Patricia Kapur, MD, co-chair of the Faculty Practice Group and chair of the Department of Anesthesiology, in the annoucement about the new name. "It puts UCLA in an excellent position for examining and enhancing processes that support the overall care experience."
[See also: Yale New Haven Health System plans $250M EHR system]
Kramer resigned from her post at CEO of eHealth Ontario, when the agency came under media fire about questionable spending and disputed contracts worth $5.6 million. The Auditor General of Ontario conducted a report on the allegations. Read Kramer’s response to the report here.
Learn more about the program at the CareConnect program website here.
