The Sacramento State Student Health Center recently implemented an electronic medical record system in order to improve efficiency.

The center began using the new system on April 7. The system stores all student medical records electronically and gives the center’s staff access to those records through their computers. Previously, the center stored student medical records on paper charts.

Student Health Center Interim Associate Director Laurie Bisset Grady said the center is using the new system as part of an effort to modernize and increase the efficiency of the center’s services.

“Paper medical records are cumbersome and now we can keep the same information computerized,” she said.

The electronic system is more efficient because it allows the center’s staff to look up a patient’s records using his or her OneCard number, instead of searching through the paper files, Grady said. Rather than students having to carry their records to the health provider, as was previously the case, providers will simply look up and update the charts via the computer.

The center researched electronic medical record systems in relation to college health centers in California and decided on a program, known as OpenChart, provided by the Boston, Mass., firm Point and Click Solutions Inc.

“OpenChart is designed to improve clinical care in a practical way that gives providers the timely, helpful information they need without slowing their existing work-flow,” according to a brochure on the Point and Click Solutions Inc. website.

The cost of the new system to the Student Health Center, which is run by student fees, was approximately $400,000.

Ultimately, the electronic system will save the center money, Grady said. The annual cost of maintaining the paper medical files is $100,000.

Students experienced some delays during the first week of the service as center staff learned how to use the system, Grady said. Wait times have been reduced and many of the kinks in the system have been worked out as the center’s staff have become more familiar with the system, she said.

The upgrade to an electronic medical record system is part of a two to three year project to completely computerize the center’s services as it prepares to move to the Recreation and Wellness Center scheduled to open in September 2010, Grady said.

The next phase of the project is to develop an electronic check-in system where students swipe their OneCards at computer kiosks in the center instead of waiting in line to speak to a staff member at the registration desk, Grady said. The center hopes to have the computer kiosks in place this fall.

Todd Wilson can be reached at [email protected].