4A
NEWS
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
THURSDAY. NOVEMBER 13. 2008
HOSPITAL (CONTINUED FROM 1A)
Anna Gerken uses the KU Hospital's new electronic records system. The KU Hospital is in the second stage of a five-year transition to all-electronic medical records.
also bought several hundred new computers for physicians and pharmacists to use, including carts with laptops so that nurses and other care providers can roll computers from unit to unit.
With records stored online and the accessibility of this information, there is some concern of privacy for patients. For example, if a patient goes to her gynecologist at the KU Hospital for an appointment, and then returns to the emergency room three weeks later for a broken foot, the ER doctor will be able to see any information that the gynecologist put into her file.
But having information from a previous appointment will often help doctors. They will know what medication a patient is currently on and if they are allergic to anything and how badly they are allergic to it.
The security system at the KU Hospital does make sure that not just any doctor can look up a patient's information. A portion of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) is based on keeping a patient's information secure and confidential.
"Privacy of the patients' information is a major portion of treatment as far as I'm concerned," Irwin Weinberg, KU Hospital Information Security Officer, said. "When you come into the hospital, we want to be able to tell you that you are going to get the best treatment, and that information is going to be protected to the most optimum degree possible."
Weinberg said this was done with "audit trails". Each physician has an "audit trail" that shows where he or she has gone on the computer and what they have looked at. These trails are permanent and can always be accessed by security.
Each person has his or her own log in and password. If a physician is looking at a patient's records that he or she shouldn't be, then this will signal "red flags" to security.
"The vendor, Epic, pretty much has to build their system around the requirements that HIPAA sets for the record, so there's lots of security set up," Kay Grasso, director of clinical informatics, said. "We make sure that people are trained on the system, that they fill out a confidentiality form, that our security within the system is set up appropriately and we follow those HIPAA guidelines very stringently."
Weinberg and other KU Hospital security officers have met with doctors and nurses in various departments to make sure they are aware of the security features. They have also run campaigns on how to use passwords properly and send secure e-mails.
Owens said that just knowing the security had "audit trails" inhibited people from accessing a record.
"Everyone in the institution is well-versed on the methods to protect privacy" Owens said.
EMRs also help secure records, because they can't be left lying around like paper records. Weinberg said he had once seen a nurse leave a cart of medical records out in the hall while she went to the bathroom. This wouldn't happen with EMRs. Even if a computer wasn't being watched, only a nurse or doctor would be able to log in to the system to view records.
As the KU Hospital finishes the second stage of the transition to electronic records, there is still much to come as more of the EMR system is implemented. At this point, the hospital is still working on putting many of the ambulatory clinics on the same electronic system. Eventually, a patient portal will be built to allow
patients to schedule appointments, request prescriptions and look at lab results online. Ultimately patients will have the capability to go online and view their own records.
Dennis Minich, senior media relations coordinator for the KU Hospital, said that the system could go even further in the future. Eventually, patients may have all of their medical information programmed on their insurance cards, and all they have to do is hand them to the doctor, who swipes them and they have all of a patient's information readily available.
Owens said that electronic records were a major step forward in health care because there was an incredible amount of time spent getting information from other departments or other institutions when caring for a patient.
"Electronic records will facilitate the timely exchange of patient information," Owens said. "It will allow us to make better informed, more timey decisions on behalf of patients."
15,000 and 20,000 square feet and will connect to Anderson, making it all one big complex.
FACILITY (CONTINUED FROM 1A)
— Edited by Jennifer Torline
The goal of the project is indeed to connect all five buildings — Wagnon Student Athlete Center, Horeisi Family Athletics Center, Anschutz Sports Pavilion, the Fieldhouse and the new practice facility. Both basketball teams currently have to go outside between their locker rooms
The basketball teams also share practice times at Horejsi and the Fieldhouse, but have to juggle practice schedules to allow the main tenent of the building — the volleyball team — to have the gym when needed. The new facility will allow for more manageable practice times and will help ease the scheduling problems.
and practice at Horeisi.
"Sometimes it's a burden
on the kids, having to practice early in the mornings and stuff," women's basketball coach Bonnie Henrickson said. "It's been manageable, but it will be a lot more convenient and student-athlete friendly once we get the third facility."
The project is scheduled to be completed on Oct. 15,2009.
Edited by Becka Cremer
ECONOMY
Susan Walsh/ASSOCIATED PRESS
Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson calls on a reporter during a news conference at the Treasury Department in Washington on Wednesday. Paulson said the rescue plan approved by Congress a month ago had already an effect on the financial crisis.
BY MARTIN CRUTSINGER
Democrats seek auto bailout
ASSOCIATED PRESS
WASHINGTON — The Bush administration is abandoning the centerpiece of its massive $700 billion economic rescue plan and exploring new ways to shore up not only banks but credit-card, auto-loan and other huge nonbank businesses. Democrats are pressing hard to include a multibillion-dollar bailout for faltering automakers, too — over administration objections.
Unimpressed by any of the talk on Wednesday, Wall Street dove ever lower.
at a news briefing, explaining the administration's switch from its original plan to help financial institutions by buying up troubled assets, primarily securities backed by bad home loans.
"The facts changed and the situation worsened," Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson said
Despite its new flexibility, the administration remained opposed to using the rescue fund to bail out the ailing auto industry or to provide guarantees for home loans, an idea that supporters contend offers the greatest hope for helping legions of Americans who are facing foreclosure.
Congressional Democrats felt otherwise on autos, and strongly. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid were pressing for quick passage of a major package for carmakers during a postselection session that begins next Tuesday.
One key House Democrat was putting together legislation that would send $25 billion in emergency loans to the beleaguered industry in exchange for a government ownership stake in the Big Three car companies.
Not all the news was bad, Paulson suggested. He said the rescue program approved by Congress a month ago had already had an effect in dealing with the most severe financial crisis in decades, a credit squeeze that is threatening to push the country into a deep and prolonged recession.
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