OAKLAND, Calif., Jan. 22, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- Kaiser Permanente announced today that 350 of its ambulatory clinics received the Stage 7 Ambulatory Award from HIMSS Analytics. The award acknowledges Kaiser Permanente's advanced use of Kaiser Permanente HealthConnect^®, the organization's electronic health record, to support the sharing and use of patient data, among patients and their caregivers, to improve quality of care, process performance and patient safety.

"We are proud to have our ambulatory clinics recognized as top performers by HIMSS Analytics," said John E. Mattison, MD, chief medical information officer and assistant medical director, Kaiser Permanente Southern California. "This achievement is more than a testament to our technology, it is an example of the power of our integrated health care delivery system.  It is also a tribute to the doctors and nurses in every region who have worked so hard to constantly improve the safety and quality of the care they deliver to all of our members with our electronic health record."

Kaiser Permanente has the most clinics certified for Stage 7 Ambulatory, with medical office buildings in eight states and the District of Columbia. Over the past five years, the health care organization also has received 37 Stage 7 Hospital Awards from HIMSS Analytics.

"Kaiser Permanente has clearly met and exceeded all criteria for an ambulatory Stage 7 organization. They have a complete electronic patient medical record with appropriate ubiquitous access to support patient care in all Kaiser Permanente facilities across the country," said John P. Hoyt, FACHE, FHIMSS, executive vice president, HIMSS Analytics. "With world-class analytics, Kaiser Permanente has shown the value of a very comprehensive EHR and the business and clinical analytics to improve care, quality, safety and efficiency on a world-class basis."

Developed in 2011, the EMR Ambulatory Adoption Model™ provides a methodology for evaluating the progress and impact of electronic medical record systems for ambulatory facilities owned by hospitals in the HIMSS Analytics™ Database. Stage 7 represents the highest level of EMR adoption and indicates a health system's advanced electronic patient record environment.

In the third quarter of 2014, only 4.37 percent of the more than 27,000 U.S. ambulatory clinics in the HIMSS Analytics® Database received the Stage 7 Ambulatory Award.

"During the certification process, it became clear that Kaiser Permanente continues to lead the industry in using health IT to improve care," said Michael McNamara, MD, chief medical information officer, Kaiser Permanente Northwest. "The evaluation also identified a limited number of areas where we can improve, and we consider this peer feedback invaluable to our organizational goal of continuous improvement."

KP HealthConnect is the largest and most advanced non-governmental EHR record in the world. KP HealthConnect securely links patients with their health care teams, their personal health information and the latest medical knowledge. It also connects Kaiser Permanente's researchers to one of the most extensive collections of longitudinal medical data available, facilitating studies and important medical discoveries that shape the future of health and care delivery for patients and the medical community.

"Stage 7 certification sets a benchmark that all health care organizations should strive for when implementing their EHR systems," said Dick Daniels, interim chief information officer, Kaiser Permanente. "We feel confident that our EHR adoption is improving care delivery throughout our integrated delivery system."

Kaiser Permanente will be recognized for its Stage 7 Ambulatory Award at the 2015 Annual Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society Conference, April 12–16, in Chicago.

About Kaiser Permanente

Kaiser Permanente is committed to helping shape the future of health care. We are recognized as one of America's leading health care providers and not-for-profit health plans. Founded in 1945, our mission is to provide high-quality, affordable health care services and to improve the health of our members and the communities we serve. We currently serve more than 9.5 million members in eight states and the District of Columbia. Care for members and patients is focused on their total health and guided by their personal physicians, specialists and team of caregivers. Our expert and caring medical teams are empowered and supported by industry-leading technology advances and tools for health promotion, disease prevention, state-of-the-art care delivery and world-class chronic disease management. Kaiser Permanente is dedicated to care innovations, clinical research, health education and the support of community health. For more information, go to: kp.org/share.

Contact:
Amanda Wardell
Amanda.Wardell@kp.org
510.292.0758

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