Burlington-based University of Vermont Health Network has begun the regulatory review process for a unified EHR, which would connect its four hospitals.
At present, the four hospitals — Berlin-based Central Vermont Medical Center, Plattsburgh, N.Y.-based Champlain Valley Physicians Hospital, New York-based Elizabethtown Community Hospital and Burlington-based University of Vermont Medical Center — store patient records on separate systems made by different EHR vendors. These records are only partially connected, with providers at different hospitals having only limited access to the same patient information.
To address this issue, University of Vermont Health Network aims to create a unified EHR that would include all patient, registration, billing, scheduling and insurance information, to be accessed across the network, regardless of location. The project is expected to take 40 months and represents a capital cost of $112.4 million. The total cost of the project over its first six years is $151.6 million.
The University of Vermont Medical Center filed a certificate of need application with the state of Vermont for the project.