Starting July 1, 2012, the entire health system -- including outpatient clinics (except UCLA Santa Monica Bay Physicians) -- will use CareConnect for patient access and billing services. Whether clinicians will be using CareConnect instead of paper charts to document visits, however, depends on when a particular clinic is scheduled to go live with clinical functions.
Read more, see the rollout schedule >>
The Neurology CareConnect Task Force got the first glimpse of a map showing where various devices -- workstations, printers, and scanners -- will be placed in the neurology suite at 300 Medical Plaza.
Your questions about privacy and security are answered in a new set of FAQs, and a schedule details the rollout of CareConnect's clinical functions to ambulatory clinics.
Testing begins for Go-Live 1 applications; a scope of practice work group determines who performs which functions in CareConnect. Read about the latest CareConnect developments.
The 15,000 future users of the electronic health record will need to perform work at the highest level authorized by their licensure or certification as defined by scope of practice standards. A Scope of Practice Work Group was given the task of clearly defining those roles within CareConnect.
Testing of departmental processes in CareConnect has begun just a few months after teams began modifying workflows to meet the needs of our health system and those of our patients.
Future users of CareConnect are catching their first glimpses of the electronic health record system about eight months before the first scheduled go-live at UCLA Health System.
The development of clinical content for CareConnect, UCLA's electronic health record program, is currently underway, and physician involvement from all specialties is crucial in the process.
CareConnect, UCLA's electronic health record program, is continually evolving to ensure it will meet the needs of our health system and patients when it goes live, and our website - www.CareConnect.uclahealth.org - is changing in the same way. It is now even easier to use and designed to keep you up to date on everything you need to know about CareConnect.
With the first go-live date for CareConnect scheduled in nine months for thousands of users, it’s natural to have questions about the who, what, where, when, and how of training. While work on a comprehensive training plan continues, answers to basic questions are available now on CareConnect’s website.
Dozens of faculty and staff members from UCLA Health System and David Geffen School of Medicine are just beginning the process of evaluating oncology-specific workflows in CareConnect in a new round of validation sessions.
A Confidentiality Work Group, made up of faculty and staff members from clinical, medical records, privacy, and information security departments, was formed specifically to evaluate CareConnect functions relating to protecting patient records.
As we edge closer to our first go-live next July, excitement is growing over the transformation CareConnect will usher in at the UCLA Health System. We're pleased to offer an update on progress: Development of clinical content is underway, as we are preparing for our seventh round of sessions to validate workflows in Epic's Model System.
How will CareConnect affect my job? Where will CareConnect be implemented? What happens if the system goes down? You'll find the answers to those questions and dozens more in a new series of FAQs on CareConnect's website.
Members of CareConnect's leadership team offer regular updates to departments and groups throughout UCLA Health System to keep faculty and staff up-to-date about the implementation of our electronic health record program. CareConnect Director of Organizational Transformation Arpi Chalian, MD, met with the Nurse Practitioner Council on Aug. 28.
Two informal drop-in events were held in August to give future CareConnect users an opportunity to learn more about UCLA's electronic health record program. Attendees met one-on-one with members of the CareConnect leadership team.
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There's no question that CareConnect will transform the way care is delivered at UCLA Health System. But who determines how our electronic health record system will function?
We're committed to keeping you informed as we implement CareConnect across UCLA Health System. Last month we completed four of seven sessions to validate workflows in Epic's Model System to make sure they meet UCLA's needs.
A Phase 3 Transition Meeting and Celebration was hosted by the CareConnect team July 26 to mark the move of UCLA's electronic health record system into the next phase of implementation.
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More than 40 physicians attended the first CareConnect Physician Advocate Council meeting July 21. The group was formed to communicate the physician's perspective at all steps of CareConnect development.
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The third of seven rounds of validation sessions wrapped up July 14, as part of an ongoing effort to make sure workflows in CareConnect will fit our needs and effectively serve our patients when our electronic health record system goes live.
As you know, UCLA's electronic health record system will be rolled out in phases beginning in July 2012. Today, we're one-year out from our initial go-live when business systems and the first group of ambulatory clinics will transition to CareConnect.
Read more >>
Many of 60+ sessions were standing-room only as more than 600 faculty and staff from UCLA Health System participated in the second round of validation sessions from June 14-16.
Forty-one physicians from UCLA Health System traveled to Wisconsin to the headquarters of Epic Systems -- whose Model System provides the foundation for CareConnect -- for two days of early training on June 9-10, 2011, on tools commonly used by physicians.
We talked to UCLA doctors, nurses and other staff members who have experience using electronic health records (EHRs) that were developed by Epic. Read what they have to say about the benefits and challenges of using an EHR.
Alexander S. Nury joined the CareConnect team as director of its project management office. In this leadership
role, Nury provides horizontal oversight of the CareConnect implementation, maintaining the overall
overall program plan, and managing risk and relationships to ensure a successful rollout.
As CareConnect advances to its next phase of implementation, we're engaging the help of hundreds of staff and faculty to make sure our electronic health record reflects the way we do things here at the UCLA Health System.
Kerckhoff Hall's Grand Salon was nearly half full on May 25 as a representative for Epic Systems walked through the process for how doctors and nurses will view and route the results of patient tests in CareConnect, UCLA's electronic health record system. Test results appear in a physician's "In Basket," where they can be read, documented, or routed for follow up. Fast and simple? Yes. And then ... the questions began.
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CareConnect's first series of Validation Sessions will be held at UCLA medical facilities in late May. The goal of this phase is to set the groundwork for UCLA's electronic health record program, CareConnect.
Hundreds of UCLA Health System staff members shared information about how they do their jobs to help inform the development of CareConnect. At the end of April 2011, staff reviewed processes for our clinical and business workflows through site visits with our vendor, Epic Systems.
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We are delighted to introduce CareConnect, UCLA's comprehensive electronic health record (EHR) program. It is based on one of the most highly rated EHR software systems in the nation, and will securely connect thousands of people across the UCLA Health System.
Q. What does EHR mean?
A. The Electronic Health Record (EHR) is a digital record of patient health information including patient demographics, progress notes, problems, medications, vital signs, past medical history, immunizations, laboratory data and radiology reports.
An intensive training class for the first members of the CareConnect team was held late February at the Epic Systems headquarters in Verona, Wisconsin. More than 50 CareConnect staff attended the training, and showed they were a determined group braving the weather conditions and delving into the details of the Epic Model System. The Epic Model System-a set of common practice configurations, workflows, and content-serves as the foundation for the CareConnect implementation process. The trainees were divided into different classrooms based on setting-such as Ambulatory and In Patient. They were further grouped into specific areas (e.g., surgery, hospital billing, anesthesia) and focused on content particular to each department. "The team is willing to do what it takes to make sure physicians, nurses, and all other staff at UCLA have a system that works well for them," says training participant Ellen Pollack, RN, MSN, CareConnect inpatient clinical director. "Thousands of dedicated health professionals at UCLA who take care of our community will have an Electronic Health Record that will enhance the work that we do."
The CareConnect program is moving forward with site visits this spring, as part of an ongoing process toward implementation of our electronic health record. Epic staff will begin visiting UCLA's clinics and hospitals.
The electronic health record program will now be called CareConnect. The name CareConnect reflects both the breadth of the program and the benefits that will result from its implementation. While the CareConnect program is using Epic Systems technology, the actual implementation will be tailored to UCLA's needs, according to Michael Steinberg, MD, chairperson, CareConnect Executive Oversight Board. CareConnect builds upon the mission of delivering leading-edge patient care by streamlining our processes and systems. UCLA Health System is taking the next step to a truly integrative medical practice, and this will be a transformative experience for the organization. "The CareConnect program is a once-in-a-generation opportunity to work together as an organization to really change how we deliver health care," adds Patricia Kapur, MD, co-chairperson, UCLA Faculty Practice Group; and chairperson, department of anesthesiology. "It puts UCLA in an excellent position for examining and enhancing processes that support the overall care experience." Look for the new CareConnect website and program communications, coming soon.
We are pleased to announce that a contract has been signed between UCLA Health System and Epic Systems Corporation to provide an integrated Electronic Health Record system for our organization. After an in-depth assessment by members of our organization, we have determined that the Epic System is the right system for UCLA.
We have contracted for the enterprise suite of products that includes practice management and clinical systems. The sequence of our rollout will start with scheduling, registration, billing, and ambulatory clinicals followed by inpatient clinicals. Next year will primarily focus on the design and build of the system and the actual deployment will occur in 2012 and 2013. A detailed project plan is in the process of being developed and you will be hearing more in the very near future.
This will provide our clinicians and patients with a seamless and integrated set of systems that allow easy access to information to facilitate and improve the overall patient care process, facilitate health sciences education, and support the multitude of robust clinical research programs across UCLA and its affiliated partners. This system also provides the foundation to further our service mission of healing human kind, one patient at a time.
We would like to thank those who participated in the workgroup process to help us reach this decision. This is an exciting time for our organization and we look forward to your partnership as we undertake this significant initiative.
Sincerely,
A. Eugene Washington
Vice chancellor & dean
David Feinberg
Presient and chief executive officer, UCLA Hospital System,
Patricia Kapur
Interim co-president, UCLA Faculty Practice Group
John Mazziotta
Interim co-president, UCLA Faculty Practice Group
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