The Cardiovascular Informatics Program is focused on optimizing clinical and administrative staff workflow and data accessibility/interpretability for research and quality improvement. This is done through improved computer information systems, including online medical record technology easily shared among physicians and patients.
Brigham and Women’s Hospital has a robust history of internal developments in information technology at the enterprise, site and division level. In 2015, Brigham transitioned from our internally-developed inpatient and outpatient information systems to integrated, electronic health information technology developed by Epic Systems Corp. This new, fully integrated clinical and administrative information system across the Mass General Brigham enterprise pulls together all existing systems, such as patient scheduling and research databases; clinical systems for doctors, nurses, emergency personnel, and other care providers; systems for lab technologists, pharmacists, and radiologists; and billing systems for insurers.
Informatics improvements in cardiovascular care at BWH include the following areas:
Cardiac Invasive
- Developed internal Structured Query Language (SQL) databases for quality improvement and research, as well as for National Cardiovascular Data Registry (NCDR) and state reporting.
- Staggered migration to “Cupid” structured reporting.
Cardiac Non-invasive
- Staggered migration to “Cupid” structured reporting
Ambulatory
- Installed real-time location system to enable intelligent workflow redesign and optimization.
Computer Information Support System
Computer information system support is shared across multiple teams within Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Mass General Brigham:
- Mass General Brigham eCare build and clinical content team. Mass General Brigham eCare refers to the initiative to implement a shared electronic health record (EHR) system at all Mass General Brigham-affiliated academic medical centers, hospitals, physician offices, rehabilitation centers and home health providers by 2017. It builds off the industry-leading Epic software and, once fully-functional, will support more than 60,000 clinical and administrative professionals.
- Mass General Brigham Information Systems (departmental systems group)
- Cardiovascular Medicine division systems administrators for catheter laboratory and electrophysiology laboratory
- Biomedical devices supported by BWH Biomedical Engineering and PeC Biomedical Device Integration teams
Read this Boston Globe article about Brigham and Women’s Hospital’s transition to Mass General Brigham eCare and Epic’s information technology system.
Leadership
Amy Leigh Miller, MD, PhD, Chief Medical Information Officer, Inpatient Clinical Services
Resources
