Hosting Community-based Physician EMRs: Five Years in the Making at Partners

Cindy Bero, Chief Information Officer, Partners Community Healthcare, Boston, describes the journey since the planning in 2002 to the current state, and lessons learned. She describes the movement from providing incentives for physicians to requiring EMR use, how to manage this evolution, how P4P contracts helped, and priorities for primary care vs. specialist doctors. With more that 1200 private practice physicians now signed up, Partners is realizing its vision of the Ambulatory EMR as a foundational piece of their Quality program.