Marshall, UC Davis Share Tech

PLACERVILLE — UC Davis Medical Center will provide portions of its electronic health records systems to Marshall as part of an information technology agreement recently finalized.

UC Davis’ fully deployed EHR system supports the rapid, accurate and secure sharing of clinical information when patients are hospitalized or receiving outpatient care, including at Kaiser and Sutter health systems. The new agreement adds Marshall’s patients to the list of those who benefit from that community collaboration.

“We are committed to using our expertise to benefit our patients and the communities we serve,” said Ann Madden Rice, chief executive officer of UC Davis Medical Center. “The investment we’ve made in our IT infrastructure should be leveraged to support the health and economic welfare of the region.”

UC Davis was among the first health-care providers to partner with other health systems to exchange electronic health information through the Care Everywhere project. According to HIMSS, the nation’s leading hospital information technology society, UC Davis has exchanged more than 3.7 million patient records of different types with non-affiliated health providers in the community and region since 2008.

“We are thrilled to be bringing a high-functioning patient records system to the foothills,” said James Whipple, chief executive officer of Marshall. “The beauty of this agreement is that we can partner with UC Davis in a way that preserves our independence and provides up-to-date technology tools for our patients and our medical teams.”

The new agreement ensures that crucial patient data gets to Marshall’s clinicians at the moment they are delivering care, saving time, avoiding duplicate diagnostic tests and potentially reducing costs. It also benefits patients transferred to UC Davis for specialty or subspecialty services like neonatal, burn or neurocritical care.

“Our patients will be in the hands of experts here and at UC Davis who can immediately access their health records and engage in providing treatment,” Whipple said.

UC Davis’ state-of-the-art EHR platform also has advanced a number of innovative quality-improvement programs, from the early identification, monitoring and control of sepsis to the reduction of intensive care unit pneumonia and infection rates. The system was developed by Epic, a health-care software company based in Wisconsin.

Marshall is an independent, nonprofit community health-care provider. For more information visit marshallmedical.org.