Health Information Technology Initiatives in Santa Cruz County, California

In the midst of the often rancorous debate about how to fix our nation’s broken healthcare system, even Hillary Clinton and Newt Gingrich agree about the need to expand the use of information technology in healthcare.  The reason for this unusual coalition is the compelling evidence that health information technology is an effective tool to coordinate a patient’s care among multiple providers, reduce medical errors, and spread medical research results.  For patients, health information also holds the potential to obtain more information and participate in their health care.  For these reasons, the Health Improvement Partnership selected the expansion of health information technology as a goal to improve the health of our community.

Santa Cruz County has been recognized nationwide as a leading community in health information technology starting with the implementation in the mid 1990’s of a clinical messaging system by the Physicians Medical Group of Santa Cruz County linking independent physicians, laboratories and the hospitals.  Our community also includes several independent physicians who were early adopters of electronic medical records to create paperless offices. 

Over the last years we have moved towards the “tipping point” in the adoption of electronic medical records.  In 2006, Dominican Hospital was among the first hospitals in the Catholic Healthcare West system to implement an inpatient electronic medical record.  Also in 2006, the Santa Cruz County Health Services Agency Clinics were the among the first community health centers in implement an electronic medical record.  In 2007, the Santa Cruz Medical Foundation implemented an electronic medical record in all their outpatient clinics in Santa Cruz County.  There are many more examples of expanding information technology in our local healthcare system.

In addition to the expansion of technology in the clinics, offices and the hospitals, health care leaders in Santa Cruz County are also working towards the goal of securely exchanging information among healthcare organizations and with patients.  In 2004, the Pajaro Valley Community Health Trust received a 3-year federal grant to develop a community-wide electronic diabetes registry.  Although the registry goal was not achieved, this project brought local healthcare leaders, clinicians and technology experts together to resolve some of the core issues about electronic exchange of information.  It also laid an infrastructure upon which we can expand our capacity to exchange health information as we expand the amount of health information that is stored electronically in our community.

The Pajaro Valley Community Health Trust is currently collecting data from providers on the expansion of health information technology in Santa Cruz County.  This information will be available in early 2008.

Learn about new developments in health information technology including safeguards to insure the privacy and security of your patient data.
If your provider implements an electronic medical record, ask questions about how it can help you to get more information about your health and to participate in the management of your healthcare.