WILLMAR -- The Lac qui Parle Health System and a Willmar chronic-disease collaborative are among the recipients of new state grant money to develop electronic health records.
The Minnesota Department of Health announced the grant awards this week.
The money comes from a $1.5 million appropriation by the 2006 Minnesota Legislature to help speed the adoption of electronic health records in rural and underserved parts of the state.
The new program was authorized by the Legislature for one year.
For the Lac qui Parle Health System, the money will help fund a study on how the system can convert to electronic health records, said Mark Roisen, director of the Lac qui Parle Health Network.
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The Lac qui Parle Health System consists of Johnson Memorial Health Services in Dawson, Appleton Area Health Services and the Madison Lutheran Home.
The one-year planning grant is for $40,000.
The health system plans to conduct an inventory and assessment of its current information system and bring in a consultant for a cost-benefit analysis of conversion to electronic records, Roisen said.
Because the Lac qui Parle Health System includes hospitals, medical clinics and long-term care homes, one of the biggest challenges is to devise an electronic record that can be shared yet meet the clinical needs of each setting, Roisen said.
"That's why this grant is so essential. It gets very costly and complicated," he said.
Officials with the health system hope to develop a strategic plan next year and apply for another round of funding for implementation.
The Willmar project, which is being led by Stratis Health of Bloomington, received a $250,000 grant to implement a personal electronic health record to manage chronic disease.
The communitywide project targets patients who have congestive heart failure.
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It's designed to improve the exchange of health information among the providers who care for these patients -- and ultimately to improve patient care and quality of life.
The project also will allow congestive heart failure patients to have access to their own electronic personal health record, a move that organizers hope will stimulate consumer interest and involvement in the trend toward electronic health record technology.
Partners in the project are Affiliated Community Medical Centers, Family Practice Medical Center, Rice Memorial Hospital, Rice Care Center, Kandiyohi County Public Health, Kandiyohi County Family Services, Stratis Health and University of Minnesota Health Informatics.
Dianne Mandernach, Minnesota Commissioner of Health, said in a statement that the 12 projects that received the grants will help move the state forward in making electronic medical records more widespread.
