An Electronic Medical Record System Supporting Global Health and Medical
Authors: Manlapaz Perla , Castillejo Luis , Herrington Shani 
Published: March 2016

PROBLEM STATEMENT/SCOPE/OBJECTIVES

Chevron operates with Health and Medical presence worldwide. There is an increasing need and demand of an Electronic Medical Record (EMR) System to manage medical records. This presented a great opportunity to have a global electronic medical record system for use as a tool for data management, share medical records of expatriates and provide global metrics and reports. This paper aims to discuss key learnings that will focus oncollaborative work in the standardardization of an EMR system for global use. This EMR system will manage medical records and incorporate all relevant elements of occupational and primary healthcare data as well as a minimum set of ancillary medical services to meet business units requirements. At the completion of this paper, the learnings from the pilot implementations and benefits of using a global EMR system will be addressed.

METHOD

This study reviews all lookback activities, feedback and surveys from pilot locations which include: Thailand, Bangladesh and Kazakhstan. Data collected was reviewed and analyzed in order to draw key learnings.

RESULTS AND CONCLUSION

The system has been implemented to pilot locations with other countries slated for the next two years. After the system was implemented there were several lessons learned: (1) involve the right subject matter experts, clinician representatives from the regions and IT resources: (2) clear requirements upfront (3) watch out for scope creep, (4) work with legal to comply with country data privacy laws, (5) strong project management to realistically set up timelines, resource allocation and keep activities on track, (6) committed pilot locations with dedicated resources (7) strong change management strategy and communication plans (8) strong support model for end user support (9) governance models to manage new request for functionalities and enhancements (10) strong leadership support and commitment from the global community (11) feedback from end users are critical for continuous improvement for succeeding implementations and system enhancements. Some key benefits from system use included (1) integration of all medical records, occupational health as well as non-occupational medical records such as primary, ancillary care (2) ease of generating reports/metrics, (3) secured data management tool (4) accessibility and ease of sharing data/records (5) tracking of compliance exams (5) data available to support health and wellness aligned with the Total Worker Health® approach and, (6) system cost savings by leveraging a global tool.

Identifying and standardizing an EMR system for global use is a complex undertaking but worthwhile considering the full realization of the system benefits once it is fully implemented. Potential system links to safety and industrial hygiene monitoring would be ideal to manage a worker's health holistically.

NOVEL/ADDITIVE INFORMATION

Global EMR tool that integrates all aspects of Occupational Health and other Health and Medical data and records to include: primary, secondary, tertiary care.