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Patient Malaika Jacocks looks on as Dr. Romeo Rodriquez enters important information in LaSalle Medical Associates’ Electronic Medical Records system.

(SAN BERNARDINO, California) LaSalle Medical Associates is now providing its patients a more streamlined health care delivery experience by upgrading to, electronic health records All four of its clinics in San Bernardino and its corporate office have recently transformed their method of managing, securing and sharing patient information between its team of dedicated physicians.

“Our patients are our priority and by investing in this technology it will allow us to spend more time focusing on their needs rather than managing inefficient paper processes, “said CEO Dr. Albert Arteaga.

“Electronic health records provide faster access to patient information which can result in better health care especially when patients move between office locations Dr. Arteaga said. “This new system will provide our patients with greater flexibility and is a more secure way to manage and store confidential information.”

Sharing information, writing prescriptions and fostering better communications between labs and medical staff are just a few of the ways we can increase the efficiency of care,” said Carl Maier, vice president of operations for LaSalle Medical Associates.

Using an Electronic Health Records, doctors can now send prescriptions directly to a pharmacy during an office visit so a prescription arrives at the pharmacy well before a patient does. Doctors can send lab orders to a medical lab, while lab technicians can send results back to the doctor quickly and securely.

“It’s all about reducing time spent on administrative tasks so we can focus on caring for our patients,” said Maier.

Although these advantages improve patient care, LaSalle Medical Associates had one more crucial reason to make the switch to electronic records this year, Maier said.

“The federal government, through the Affordable Care Act, is also driving this change,” Maier said. “The Act requires health care providers to electronically report certain information and outcomes to the government.”

It was for this compelling reason that LaSalle Medical Associates decided it had to make the switch to electronic records this year, Maier said. Since it required months of preparation, it wasn’t a decision made lightly.

“This conversion was a Herculean task, involving every aspect of the LaSalle Medical Associates organization,” he said. “We had to retrofit all of our exam rooms at each clinic to accommodate keyboards and terminals, update our infrastructure to support 200 new computers and train all of our employees in this new way of record-keeping.”

For instance, Maier said, doctors were used to starting their day by reviewing a stack of paper medical records for the patients they would see that day. Now, they must look at their email accounts to know which patients they are seeing, and to access these patient records.

To help with the conversion, LaSalle Medical Associates worked with Physicians Trust, a southern California company that specializes in helping medical practices convert to electronic medical records. It oversaw a technology upgrade that included far more than converting to electronic records.

“To realize all of the benefits of electronic medical records, LaSalle Medical Associates had to consider many aspects of technology,” said Stephen Rhodes, president of Physicians Trust. “The work included upgrades to hardware, software and computer connections. We also had to train the entire staff in the use of this new technology.”

“LaSalle Medical Associates is a multi-location health care provider, and with little time for interruptions,” Rhodes said. “This required us to design a unique approach to installing their technology upgrade and training employees.. Since the team at LaSalle is dedicated to patient care, they worked closely with our technology trainers to make sure implementation of this system was seamless and demonstrated immediate results.”

For more information on LaSalle Medical Associates call 909-890-0407.

About LaSalle Medical Associates

LaSalle Medical Associates, Inc., operates four clinics employing more than 120 dedicated healthcare professionals, treating children, adults, and seniors in San Bernardino County. LaSalle’s patients are primarily served by Medi-Cal and they also accept Blue Cross, Blue Shield, Molina, Care 1st, Health Net and Inland Empire Health Plan (IEHP). LaSalle’s clinics are at 17577 Arrow Blvd. in Fontana, 16455 Main St. in Hesperia and 1505 West 17th St. and 565 N. Mt. Vernon Ave. in San Bernardino.

LaSalle Medical Associates, Inc., is also an Independent Practice Association (IPA) of independently contracted doctors, hospitals and clinics, delivering high quality care to more than 245,000 patients in Fresno, Kings, Los Angeles, Madera, Riverside, San Bernardino, San Joaquin and Tulare Counties.

LaSalle’s IPA members in the Inland Empire include: LaSalle Medical Associates, Arrowhead Orthopedics, Arther Medical Group, Rancho Medical Group, Rancho Paseo Medical Group, Alessandro Medical Group Banning Medical Group, and San Bernardino Urological Associates. Hospital affiliations include: Rancho Springs Medical Center, Arrowhead Regional Medical Center, Community Hospital of San Bernardino, St. Bernadine Medical Center, Mountains Community Hospital, Redland Community Hospital, Loma Linda University Medical Center, Corona Regional Medical Center, Riverside County Medical Center, Parkview Community Hospital.