Case Study: Clara Maass Health Information Exchange: Live In Less Than Two Months

Like many hospitals, Clara Maass wanted to enable its referring physicians and staff to electronically receive and send patient information to improve patient safety and clinical outcomes. However, with patient data residing in many different departments, getting a complete view of the patient proved to be challenging.

Interoperability between disparate systems, to ensure that clinical information was available when and where it is needed, became the driving technology strategy. In order to deliver on its mission of providing high-quality patient care services, Clara Maass needed to replace its existing portal approach with an interoperable solution that would enable all of their ambulatory physicians to achieve "meaningful use" as well as to have secure access to a complete and comprehensive view of the patient.

In late 2008, Donald Lutz, Chief Information Officer of Clara Maass Medical Center was tasked to seek a solution that would solve these challenges and provide an affordable Electronic Medical Record (EMR) for ambulatory physicians that were not already electronic.