NEWBURYPORT - Orthopedic surgeon Richard Mindess dreams of unifying the health care process in order to make it more efficient, safer and better for patients.
Mindess will soon be leaving his well-known orthopedic practice to become president and CEO of a new electronic health care collaborative, which is guaranteed to change the face of health care in Greater Newburyport.
"I've given up a job I dearly love to become CEO and president of Wellport, something I think is just as important and will improve medical processes, safety and quality of care," Mindess said.
Mindess will continue serving as medical director of the Lower Merrimack Valley Physician Hospital Organization and the Whittier Independent Practitioners Association.
Anna Jaques was one of three hospitals selected from 35 state applicants to pilot a program offered by the Massachusetts eHealth Collaborative, which will bring computer software and training to communities. It will create a medical records system linking the hospital and its affiliated doctors. Along with sites chosen in Brockton and North Adams, Anna Jaques will serve as a model.
The eHealth initiative, financed with an infusion of $50 million from Blue Cross/Blue Shield of Massachusetts three years ago, will begin taking shape this year with patients noticing the new changes. When in full implementation, the system could make Massachusetts the first in the nation to have a statewide electronic medical record system.
Under the new system, patients' medical records will be online in a database, allowing doctors to be able to see what kind of care a patient has received from other physicians, avoid duplication of medicines, and prevent medical errors.
"If someone walks into an ER, the patient's medical history will be available, there will be no question about what previous conditions or procedures have been done," Mindess said.
The Greater Newburyport eHealth initiative collaborates with the Lower Merrimack Valley Physician Hospital Organization, Anna Jaques Hospital and Whittier Independent Practices Association. Some 125 doctors in the area have been earmarked to be part of the pilot program, and in addition, 40 doctors who are indirectly part of practices such as hospital-based physicians are also involved.
Once the system begins in area practices next year, patients who visit a participating doctor will be able to choose whether they want to opt in or out of the new system.
Mindess will soon be leaving his well-known orthopedic practice to become president and CEO of a new electronic health care collaborative, which is guaranteed to change the face of health care in Greater Newburyport.
"I've given up a job I dearly love to become CEO and president of Wellport, something I think is just as important and will improve medical processes, safety and quality of care," Mindess said.
Mindess will continue serving as medical director of the Lower Merrimack Valley Physician Hospital Organization and the Whittier Independent Practitioners Association.
Anna Jaques was one of three hospitals selected from 35 state applicants to pilot a program offered by the Massachusetts eHealth Collaborative, which will bring computer software and training to communities. It will create a medical records system linking the hospital and its affiliated doctors. Along with sites chosen in Brockton and North Adams, Anna Jaques will serve as a model.
The eHealth initiative, financed with an infusion of $50 million from Blue Cross/Blue Shield of Massachusetts three years ago, will begin taking shape this year with patients noticing the new changes. When in full implementation, the system could make Massachusetts the first in the nation to have a statewide electronic medical record system.
Under the new system, patients' medical records will be online in a database, allowing doctors to be able to see what kind of care a patient has received from other physicians, avoid duplication of medicines, and prevent medical errors.
"If someone walks into an ER, the patient's medical history will be available, there will be no question about what previous conditions or procedures have been done," Mindess said.
The Greater Newburyport eHealth initiative collaborates with the Lower Merrimack Valley Physician Hospital Organization, Anna Jaques Hospital and Whittier Independent Practices Association. Some 125 doctors in the area have been earmarked to be part of the pilot program, and in addition, 40 doctors who are indirectly part of practices such as hospital-based physicians are also involved.
Once the system begins in area practices next year, patients who visit a participating doctor will be able to choose whether they want to opt in or out of the new system.
If opting in, the patient's medical records, lab results and other selected information will be put online and made available to be shared among other physicians and specialists.
"It's important the community knows that they will receive educational materials and brochures in the mail detailing all of this. They don't have to do anything themselves," Anna Jaques spokeswoman Deb Chiaravalloti said.
Though the system will start with just the medical records being put online and shared, the future will bring more enhancements and innovations. Mindess hopes patients will be able to access their own health information through a "patient portal system," which allows patients to schedule their own tests and send medical records to other doctors.
The Massachusetts eHealth Collaborative initially gave money to practices and hospitals to ensure the proper expertise, computers and expenses associated with the collaborative were in place. Coming to the end of the $50 million three-year grant, it is now up to the participating communities to take the project over.
"Wellport is a subsidiary of Mass Health; Mass Health built the foundation. Now it is up to Wellport to take the foundation and build the house and make it function, utilize the process and implement the collaboration," Mindess said. "Once we create the technology to do it, we will be able to expand and create an interface, which will then talk to different systems and connect with other communities, whatever the community dictates."
Eventually it is the hope of Mindess that if a patient from Newburyport goes into Boston to see a specialist, the specialist will be able to see the medical history of the patient.
For Wellport, the next year will bring change, Mindess said. He will continue working with technicians to convert paper to electronic records, provide education to the public about the system, work with stakeholders in the community to pay for the implementation and say goodbye to his more than 25 years of practicing orthopedics.
"The goal is to harness the experience of technicians, administrative and medical people to make the project truly together," Mindess said. "The beauty and the challenge is meshing of the medical and technical worlds."
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