A Health Information Expressway or Life in the Slow Lanes

The Department of Health Services has developed and is implementing an electronic health record system. It will allow all providers within the DHS system to access patient records. The system is known as ORCHID. The first hospital and set of clinics is scheduled to begin implementation of ORCHID in August 2014, with the expectation of full implementation by the end of the first quarter of 2016.

The Board of Supervisors’ decision to allow DHS up to a 120 day extension on the “Go-Live” date could delay the full implementation of ORCHID beyond the scheduled target completion date.

Implementation of the DHS’s EHR will greatly improve access to patient data throughout DHS facilities and remove the silo-effect of the six separate entities in their current health information system.

Through the leadership of the Chief Information Office and the Chief Executive Office, the Countywide Master Data Management system is being developed and will soon be implemented. It will provide a roadmap to identify a “single view of the client”.

The Department of Health Services, Sheriff’s Department, and Probation Department are each using Cerner as their individual contractor for electronic health records.

Cerner has a contractual agreement to electronically connect these systems in the afore mentioned departments with minimal or no increased costs. 19 2013-2014 LOS ANGELES COUNTY CIVIL GRAND JURY FINAL REPORT A HEALTH INFORMATION EXPRESSWAY OR LIFE IN THE SLOW LANES

In 2009, the Board of Supervisors directed the Chief Executive Office to develop LANES to facilitate a countywide HIE between public and private health care providers. LANES, as it is currently constituted, has implementation limitations, which include: a. Limited resources to implement and sustain LANES; b. Lack of sustainable funding; c. Absence of a full-time director; d. Indeterminate financial support from on-going stakeholders and buy-in from other potential health care providers; and e. Uncertainty as to whether the current Federated technology architecture employed by LANES has the capacity to deliver patient information in a timely fashion.