E-health records are quite the hot topic these days, what with Google and Microsoft actually teaming up to create privacy standards for health information online, and the push toward e-health records from the government.

But for Ephraim McDowell Regional Medical Center (EMRMC), in Danville, Ky., electronic health records, or electronic medical records, are almost old hat. The hospital, which is part of the larger Ephraim McDowell Health organization, began the move to electronic records as early as 2001.

The hospital has been working to implement a single electronic records system in each of its departments. Currently, nursing documentation and parts of the emergency department have gone live on that system, as has diagnostic imaging. On deck next are the computerized physician order entry system, slated for next year, and bedside medication verification soon thereafter.

EMRMC spokesperson Shawna Sharpe told IT Business Edge in a recent interview that hospital decision makers knew it was time to make the switch to electronic records because "EMR was the 'missing link' that [would connect] all the providers in our community." It would coordinate and integrate the information in all Ephraim McDowell Health facilities and, as such, allow improved patient care.

Though the hospital doesn't participate in Google Health or Microsoft's Health Vault yet, Sharpe said it is researching the initiatives. "This is the way of the future," she said.

Before such initiatives as Google Health or Microsoft HealthVault will be of much use to patients, health care providers like EMRMC will have to be on board, and their technology will need to support the same formats.

Think about it: How are the hospitals and doctors’ offices and insurance companies and pharmacies and other entities to which patients authorize the release of their information going to share it if they are using different technology based on different standards? And what if the personal health information platform a patient chooses — be it from Microsoft, Google or some as-yet-unknown vendor — is not compatible with the e-records systems the patient’s providers use? Worse yet, if the patient’s health care providers do not use e-health records yet, is that patient out of luck?

The Healthcare Information Technology Standards Panel (HITSP) is focused on precisely those issues. HITSP has recently released interoperability specifications addressing such things as reporting lab results, managing medication, and patient access to their own records (aka consumer empowerment).

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