My mother was hospitalized for a serious illness in a central California hospital during Christmas week.That hospital is part of a large healthcare organization that does not have an electronic medical record.

Complicating things, her attending physician belonged to a large medical group, which had an electronic medical record, but lacked a means of communicating with the hospital record.

The specialty medical group to which she was referred for follow-up outpatient care had an EMR, but it did not communicate with either the hospital's traditional medical record or the EMR of her attending physician.

Excellent care was provided by all the providers, but it could have been better if all pertinent information was available in one location for all her care providers to see.

Doctors in NorthBay's Center for Primary Care and our affiliated specialty practices have used an excellent EMR system for more than two years. They were pioneers locally in its use.

Unlike many others, NorthBay's system is completely integrated with our two hospitals, our primary care physicians and our outpatient services.That means a patient with a NorthBay Center for Primary Care physician who arrives in the emergency room of one of our hospitals will have a great advantage. The ER physician has their complete medical record at his or her fingertips. This saves time, and also avoids mistakes. And it prevents tests from being unnecessarily repeated.

A patient admitted to the hospital has his or her complete record immediately available to those providing care. Only NorthBay has this completely integrated EMR.

My experience with my mother's care was pretty much a chaotic one. My sister and I tried to coordinate her care and make sure everyone had all the information they needed. It took time and lots of energy.

Had she lived closer, we could have avoided that chaos by having her treated as part of the integrated NorthBay system.