The clock is running! On January 3, St. Francis Hospital & Health Services will reveal the official countdown to the March 31 launch of the electronic health record (EHR) which has been named Project Beacon.

Gray Cox, President of St. Francis, said the introduction of the EHR will be a new milestone for the organization. “The collaboration between the Project Beacon team, which includes expertise from SSM Integrated Health Technologies as well as our own physicians and staff, and the hospital leadership has been outstanding,” said Cox. “The physician leadership, in particular, has really taken ownership of the processes to ensure that the services we provide today at St. Francis are only enhanced by the rollout of the EHR. Dr. Wurm, our director of Medical Informatics, is spending countless hours working to make this rollout as seamless and efficient to our patients and staff as possible.”

The nature of St. Francis Hospital & Health Services with its structure of integrated clinics means the inpatient and ambulatory teams within Project Beacon are working more closely than ever to deliver an EHR that most closely meets the needs of all inpatient and outpatient areas, including the satellite clinics.

“These next three months are critical in getting us to start thinking about the clinical transformation from paper patient files to electronic health record,” Cox said. St. Francis is officially counting down to the go-live date of Saturday, March 31 at 12:01 a.m.

“The clinical transformation will forever change the way we help our patients,” said Dr. Michael Wurm. “The goal is to increase clinical efficiencies and promote the standardization of care. It is also expected to increase patient, physician and employee satisfaction.”

A celebration will be held Tuesday, January 3 at 12 noon in the hospital’s cafeteria to unveil the official countdown clock.