Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Ehr It topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
DPH IT chief outlines EHR timeline; sole‑source recommendation, contracting and small‑business concerns ahead
Summary
CIO Bill Kim told commissioners the department expects to finalize an EHR sole‑source recommendation before Thanksgiving and projects initial go‑live in early 2018; public comment warned about governance, local small‑business participation and data‑ownership risks if a UCSF‑centric sole‑source is chosen.
Bill Kim, DPH chief information officer, briefed the Health Commission on Nov. 3 on IT restructuring, interoperability plans and the department’s Electronic Health Record (EHR) procurement timeline.
Kim said DPH has transformed IT from a siloed 2013 structure into an enterprise model spanning the San Francisco Health Network and Population Health Division. He introduced new IT leaders responsible for EHR, application integration, architecture, program management and operations.
On interoperability, Kim framed the objective as data liquidity—making patient and program data move securely across DPH systems. He said core EHR requirements and a governance framework have been completed, and that the department has cost estimates and support models for multiple vendor solutions.
Kim reported the department is in the final weeks of choosing a sole‑source recommendation and expected to make a recommendation within two to three weeks; he said city approvals and contracting are gating steps and that the earliest first implementation go‑live could be January or February 2018, although contracting and build time could shift that date.
Eloise Patton, speaking during public comment on behalf of minority and small‑business contractors, urged DPH to include local small businesses in any large contract, questioned whether UCSF meets sole‑source criteria, and raised concerns about governance and DPH data ownership (including whether patients would be subject to research use without knowledge and how DPH data would be separated if organizational relationships change).
Commissioners pressed Kim on the financial consequences of missing Meaningful Use Stage 3 and requested a financial analysis of the costs and penalties associated with the current timeline. Kim agreed to assemble financial impact data and an adoption plan that includes training, ongoing support and resource estimates.
Kim also said the department has built a redundant virtualized environment for population health exchange, is planning an enterprise data warehouse to tie EHR and population health systems together, and offered to hold a closed session to discuss security architecture details not appropriate for public discussion.
Commissioners asked the department to identify where the commission might help shorten procurement and contracting timelines to accelerate implementation.
