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EMR Adoption Model  

Understanding the level of electronic medical record (EMR) capabilities in hospitals is a challenge in the European healthcare IT market today. HIMSS Analytics Europe has adapted the EMR Adoption Model created by HIMSS Analytics and established across the U.S. and Canada. The model identifies the levels of electronic medical record (EMR) capabilities ranging from limited ancillary department systems through a paperless EMR environment. HIMSS Analytics Europe has developed a methodology and algorithms to automatically score hospitals in our database relative to their IT enabled clinical transformation status, to provide peer comparisons for hospital organizations as they strategize their path to a complete EMR and participation in an electronic health record (EHR).

Click here for a detailed description of the stages

EMR Adoption Model Rules Ensure Objectivity

  • All application capabilities within each stage must be operational before that stage can be achieved.
  • All lower stages must have been achieved before a higher level will be considered as achieved. 
  • A hospital can achieve Stages 3-6 if it has met all of the application requirements for a single patient care service (e.g. single nursing floor, cardiology service).   
  • Using the rules above, additional points are given for the implementation of applications in stages higher than the one fully achieved by the healthcare organization. In this fashion, other implementation paths than those prescribed by the stages can be taken into consideration for correlation with quality and financial research. 

 

EMR Adoption Model Modification for Europe

Please note that we have made important changes to the U.S. EMR Adoption Model for adaptation in Europe to reflect feedback brought forward by European CIOs during a validation process.

These changes are implemented as of August 2, 2010 and will affect EMRAM scoring moving forward.

Key proposed modifications are:

  1. Stage 1 – can also be achieved if hospitals without Lab, Radiology or Pharmacy are able to process results delivered back to the hospital for online access.
  2. Stage 2 - can be achieved if the hospital has either CDR / EPR or a Clinical Data Warehouse installed. 
  3. Stage 4 – can also be achieved by ePrescribing as a form of CPOE.
  4. Stage 5 – can also be achieved if full Radiology-PACS is implemented as  an alternative to closed loop medication (both are required in Stage 6).

 

The proposed adaptation concept is detailed here for your convenience.