Earlier this week the announcement came forward and today it’s official. We all look for collaboration and standards with medical records and all the time and work over the years from Kaiser will also stand to benefit software developers and clinicians all over. For patients, this means a big step forward with having different facilities, software and doctors being able to communicate and get the information into your chart that is needed. 
Kaiser Permanente Announces Their Donation of Convergent Medical Technology This Week For Open Access
If you have been in the Health IT business for a while and remember back, this was not an easy chore as Kaiser initially developed a system in house and then had to go back to the drawing board and start again and today it’s working very well with patients being able to connect with their physicians and have all their information available. One other item that is nice is that Kaiser takes the time to walk patients through the system so they know how to log on and use their PHR. You can have labs done at a facility in the morning and later on in the day see your results in the PHR.
SNOMED is a terminology for the physicians to make accurate and easier data entry possible, in other words terminology that is slated to be universal so a doctor in another country could understand what is in your chart if you were let’s say vacationing in another country and needed care. As a patient, of course, this is what we all want to remove the guess work. Last year I had the opportunity to chat with one of Kaiser’s pediatricians and she enlightened me on how the availability of medical records benefits both the patient and the doctor and the positive results seen by both sides.
Kaiser Permanente Pediatrician Patricia Richards Explains How The Use of Electronic Medical Records Enhances Knowledge With Obesity and Adds Focus to the “Let’s Move” Obesity Prevention Campaign
This is a really good move as we don’t have companies writing up several proprietary standards and competing for a sale here and is making use of a lot of pain staking work toward collaboration and using standards. As a patient, if you are traveling outside of the areas where Kaiser has facilities, you can use Microsoft HealthVault to have access and share your records too.
In addition, they believe in innovation and their studies and research with solutions created have also been shared with the NHS and other healthcare facilities and programs. 
Innovation and Learning at Kaiser Permanente – Interview With Chris McCarthy
You can read the full press release at the website for additional details. In addition, Kaiser Permanente has participated in several clinical trials and NIH programs to study heart disease as one example and the medical records play a vital role with compiling information and data in those areas as well. BD
OAKLAND, Calif. — Kaiser Permanente today announced it is donating its Convergent Medical Terminology to the International Healthcare Terminology Standards Development Organisation (IHTSDO©) for U.S. distribution through the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services so that all health care providers — large and small — can benefit from the translation-enabling technology.
This donation makes the results of years of work at Kaiser Permanente available to help U.S. health professionals and hospitals achieve key meaningful use standards set forth by the Office of the National Coordinator of Health IT and the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services.
Kaiser Permanente’s donation, which is being provided at no charge, consists of terminology content they have already developed, a set of tools to help create and manage terminology, and processes to control the quality of terminology that is developed. CMT also includes mappings to classifications and standard vocabularies, such as the Systematized Nomenclature of Medicine – Clinical Terms (SNOMED CT©) already accepted by U.S. and international health policy makers.
Kaiser Permanente has agreed to work with the IHTSDO, the owner of SNOMED CT, and its U.S. Member, the National Library of Medicine, to help make an internationally distributed network of terminology development a reality.
CMT is also utilized by Kaiser Permanente’s personal health record, My Health Manager, on kp.org so that patients can get a better understanding of their medical care. My Health Manager provides patients with secure, timely access to their lab test results, medication information and refill capabilities, summaries of their health conditions, and other important health information with just the click of a mouse. The technology empowers patients to manage their health by allowing them to access health information and tools and securely e-mail their doctor.
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