Keck Medicine of USC has reached a new level of completion with its electronic medical record (EMR) system, as HIMSS Analytics recently announced the medical group achieved Stage 6 on the EMR Adoption Model (EMRAM).

The model is a methodology for evaluating the progress and impact of electronic medical record systems for hospitals in the HIMSS Analytics Database. Hospitals can review the implementation and utilization of information technology applications through eight stages, aiming for Stage 7, which represents an advanced electronic patient record environment.

Stage 6 hospitals appear to have a significant advantage over competitors for patient safety, clinician support and clinician recruitment, with almost fully automated/paperless medical records across most of the inpatient care settings, and have begun to create strategic alignments with their medical staff to effectively utilize information technology to improve the patient safety environment, according to information from HIMSS Analytics.