FAQ
Questions and Answers About MultiCare Connect
What is MultiCare Connect?It’s our new state-of-the-art electronic health record that provides better coordinated care throughout our system. This secure record holds our patients’ entire health history here at MultiCare.
This system will be implemented at Good Samaritan on June 1. MultiCare Connect was launched in our clinics in 1998 and at Allenmore, Mary Bridge and Tacoma General hospitals in 2007.
Whether you visit Good Samaritan Hospital or visit any other MultiCare facility, such as a lab or imaging department, all of your care providers will be looking at the same copy of your complete and up-to-date health record.
How safe are the electronic health records?
MultiCare Connect is secure—even safer than paper records—because it’s stored electronically and can’t be misplaced.
Your health record is protected by sophisticated security features. Only clinical staff with protected passwords are allowed to access your records.
I see a doctor at a MultiCare clinic. If I’m at Good Samaritan, will the doctors and nurses access my same health record?
Yes. It’s all in one electronic health record. So, when you see your MultiCare physician, he or she will document your visit in your record. And if you have a hospital visit, those providers will see the same information as your physician. When the hospital providers update your record, your physician will see those updates on your health record.
Will my health information be available to a provider outside the MultiCare system?
If you are hospitalized at Good Samaritan, or at any other MultiCare hospital, your providers can access to your electronic health record when they come to see you, even if they are not MultiCare providers.
If you see a provider outside the MultiCare system, that information will not be relayed to the MultiCare electronic health record system and that provider will not have the same access to our electronic health record outside of our facilities. He or she can fax a paper record when you visit a MultiCare facility.
How does MultiCare compare to other hospitals?
MultiCare is at the forefront of health care technology and our electronic health record has led to dramatic improvements in our quality of care. With the launch of MultiCare Connect at Good Samaritan Hospital, MultiCare Health System became one of the most connected systems in the nation.
MultiCare Health System holds the highest ranking among West Coast health systems for its efficiency and integrated health care network and ranks fourth in the nation on the 2010 Top 100 Integrated Health Networks list.