Electronic Health Records
During the integration, Lorenz and
Hennelly have been focused on the
implementation of an Electronic Health
Record (EHR) system developed by
Epic Systems Corporation (Epic/
HealthLink). This enterprise-class
healthcare management software plat-
form will be implemented at St. Louise,
De Paul and O’Connor. The effort is
being undertaken in tandem with an
upgrade of the facilities’ wireless/IT
infrastructure.
Epic is used by Santa Clara Valley
Medical Center as well as Stanford,
Kaiser Permanente, El Camino and
other organizations to manage the EHR
of their patients. Extending the system
to South County and O’Connor marks
an $80 million investment by the
County.
“Much of our patient care is provid-
ed in collaboration with other health
systems,” Lorenz said, “so portability of
healthcare information is critical. We
are training 3,000 end users at both
hospitals before the system goes live in
August.”
From a physician standpoint,
HealthLink helps automate everything
from recording doctors’ patient assess-
ments to sending prescriptions to
the pharmacy, ordering tests, viewing
results, scheduling procedures, and
processing insurance bills.
From a patient standpoint,
30
HealthLink’s Patient Portal gives
patients access to their personal health
information and clinical records, plus
the ability to communicate with their
care team online via email and video-
conferencing.
According to Hennelly, “The goal is
for patients to log in, check their lab
results, confirm their medication sched-
ule, and review their doctor’s instruc-
tions for their own benefit or that of
their caregivers. We want people to be
empowered and more proactive about
their care.”
From a health system standpoint,
HealthLink provides a centralized
source of organized patient data not
only to every hospital and clinic in the
County’s health system, but with other
major health systems. If patients need
to go elsewhere for subspecialty ser-
vices, a complete picture of their health
history will be available to their entire
care team.
Coordinated Trauma Care
In the State of California, traumatic
injury is the primary cause of death for
all people ages 1 to 44. Trauma results
from motor vehicle collisions, falls,
burns, stabbing and gunshot wounds,
or other blunt or penetrating forces.
Valley Medical Center is a Level I
Adult Trauma Center, and a Level II
Pediatric Trauma Center. Level I is the
GILROY • MORGAN HILL • SAN MARTIN
august/september 2019
highest designation with the most rig-
orous requirements. The County has
expressed interest in making St. Louise
a Trauma Center.
“Our facility is not large enough to
be Level I but we could be a Level III
Trauma Center,” Hennelly said. “We’re
in a review and planning phase now.”
“St. Louise has a tremendous group
of emergency physicians and staff,”
Lorenz added. “We are committed to
establishing St. Louise as a regional
Trauma Center and part of a coordi-
nated trauma care system.”
Along with its Trauma Center opera-
tions, Valley Medical Center is also
known for its regional Burn Center,
which serves Santa Clara County and
more than five other counties. Its
Rehabilitation Center is nationally rec-
ognized for treating brain and spinal
cord injuries and strokes—patients
are referred from across and outside of
the region. Valley Medical Center also
operates the County’s only Emergency
Psychiatric Acute Care services. The
County has approved $250 million to
build an Emergency Psychiatric Acute
Care facility for adults and children.
Equipped for Care
Lorenz outlined several other areas of
county-funded improvements that are in
the works for St. Louise.
“We are in the process of replacing
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VALLEY
Paul Lorenz
CEO, Valley Medical Center
John Hennelly, CEO, St. Louise Regional Hospital