Stark Diabetes Center among latest to transition to EMR
By Michele Rainford
MAY 24, 2007--On April 17, 2007, UTMB’s Nelda C. and H. J. Lutcher Stark Center of Excellence in Diabetes Care, better known as the Stark Diabetes Center, became one of the most recent areas on campus to go live with the Epic Electronic Medical Records (EMR) system.
The Stark center celebrated its successful EMR implementation with a burrito breakfast on Friday, May 11 at 8 a.m. The event was attended by EMR and hospital leaders including Dr. Michael Warren, professor of Surgery/Urology and Physician EMR Champion; Christine Keating, Chief Operating Officer, Dean of Medicine’s office; Casey Peterson, director of Clinical Operations, Clinics Administration; Stark center clinicians; and Information Services (IS) personnel.
“After the training and the transition from paper to electronic records takes place, it will enhance our ability to provide efficient and high-quality care to our diabetes and other endocrine patients. In a medication- and data-driven specialty like Endocrinology, it will make it easier to organize data and spot trends; this is essential for keeping up with our disease-management protocols. The EMR will allow physicians to examine their own practice and will help them provide equitable care, which will go a long way toward eliminating health disparities,” says Dr. Kevin McKinney, associate director of Patient Care at the Stark Diabetes Center and associate professor of Internal Medicine – Endocrinology.
The success of the well-coordinated go live can be attributed, in part, to the collaborative efforts and cooperative spirit of the Stark center clinicians and all those involved in the implementation process. The Stark center clinicians “had a very positive attitude and were very easy to work with,” said a member of the IS implementation team.
The Nelda C. and H.J. Stark Diabetes Center began operations on June 18, 2001 with a grant from the Stark Foundation of Orange, Texas.
The center is under the direction of Randall J. Urban, M.D., the Edward Randall and Edward Randall Jr. Distinguished Chair in Internal Medicine, Professor and Chair of Internal Medicine and Chief of the Division of Endocrinology at UTMB
The Stark center provides specialized clinical care for patients with diabetes, educational resources, programs to help patients manage the disease, and expanded basic science research. Its self-management program that now trains 1,000 patients each year was the first in a teaching hospital to be recognized by the American Diabetes Association as meeting national standards for diabetes patient education.
Center services include a registered dietician to help patients develop meal plans to control their blood sugar levels and special exercise programs for individuals with diabetes in the Department of Physical Therapy’s Primary Care Pavilion office.
Diabetes is the leading cause of blindness in the country so the center collaborates with the Department of Ophthalmology to identify and treat patients with diabetic eye diseases.
According to the center’s web site, they also collaborate with specialists in Orthopedics and Surgery to treat lower extremity ulcerations and foot abnormalities caused by diabetic nerve damage and vascular disease, the leading cause of lower limb amputations.
And, because individuals with diabetes are two to four times more likely to have heart disease, the center collaborates with the Division of Cardiology to diagnose and treat cardiovascular disease.
Each year upward of 50,000 treatment visits at UTMB involve patients that are diabetic. To date, more than 900 patients have been seen at the center, two-thirds of whom were diagnosed with diabetes.
The Stark center is very visible in the community providing outreach and information on diabetes at various community events and at schools. Center outreach representatives have participated in the NASA Johnson Space Center Safety and Total Health Day, Pediatric Diabetes Training for Orange ISD Employees, the Celebrate Recovery Street Festival and the Hispanic Family Festival. The center conducts the monthly “A Gathering for People with Diabetes and their Families and Friends” on the first Tuesday of each month from 6–7:30 p.m. at the Island Community Center in Galveston.
The Epic EMR system is in the fourth year of a five-year implementation program transitioning from paper patient records to electronic medical records at UTMB.
For more information on the Stark Diabetes Center, visit the web site.