State proposes $105 million to update Medical College of Georgia's electronic records

The state budget put forward by Gov. Brian Kemp for Georgia has proposed a significant item for the Medical College of Georgia — $105 million for a new electronic medical record system.

The budget line describes the new records system as a way to support medical education and training at MCG. In testimony before the joint appropriations committee, University System of Georgia Chancellor Sonny Perdue outlined the need for the new system, which he described as USG's "main ask" for the year.

"We do medical education extremely well. We don't operate hospitals very well," Perdue said. "So we are looking for a partnership where our physicians in Georgia can experience a modern hospital environment that would help all across the state."

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Part of creating that modern environment, Perdue said, was the proposed partnership with Wellstar. AU Health Systems signed a letter of intent with the Atlanta area health nonprofit in late December agreeing to negotiations over Wellstar taking on the assets of AU Health. The new record management system is another part, he said.

"The timing with Wellstar is fortuitous," Augusta University President Brooks A. Keel told the Chronicle. "We need this electronic medical (record system) in a desperate way, regardless of whether we have a partnership with Wellstar or anyone else. It's just that the timing just worked out rather nicely."

The change, Keel said, was overdue, and attempts to optimize the current system were unsuccessful.

"We've been trying to take a look at replacing ... and optimizing electronic medical record for years now, going back to when I first started," he said.

Keel said that Perdue and the Board of Regents were very involved in proposing the expenditure to the governor's budget office. The new record system would be housed in the AU Health System, and used throughout all of the hospitals and clinics associated with the university.

"We depend on these electronic medical records for better health care, better coordination, better communication, and in a hospital sense, a better revenue cycle," Perdue told legislators, adding that the newer system would also keep patients from getting delayed, surprise medical bills.

The total cost of the program will be $115 million, with Augusta University, AU Health Systems and MCG contributing $10 million. It does not appear that Wellstar will be contributing directly to the records, as the negotiation for the potential partnership are still underway.

The system that the AU Health System is looking to purchase is the Epic System. Keel said that moving to the new system will require time to implement and train staff as well as transfer data, leading to a number of expenditures and the estimated cost of $105-110 million. If the purchase is approved in the final state budget, he estimates it will take 12-18 months to roll it out.

"It just so happens that WellStar has and uses the Epic system, and they've got a lot of experience at implementing that system at other hospitals," Keel said. "But again, we need to change our medical record system. Epic is one of the more popular and one of the more state-of-the-art systems out there, and so it would make sense for us to move that direction, whether Wellstar was in the picture or not."

Keel also said it would improve the experience for patients, including a more efficient portal for seeing lab results and an easy transfer between other hospitals in Georgia that also use the Epic system.

This article originally appeared on Augusta Chronicle: Medical College of Georgia will get $105M record system, Perdue says