Michigan-based Beaumont Hospitals expects to use stimulus money to expand e-medical records

Money included in the $787 billion federal economic stimulus package will allow Royal Oaks, MI-based Beaumont Hospitals to expand a new electronic medical records system to at least 300 of its affiliated physicians by year's end. Beaumont launched its centralized EMR system at its Grosse Pointe hospital last year and at its Royal Oak and Troy hospitals on Feb. 1. The system, which is now in place with 136 affiliated physicians, is expected to streamline a complex web of mostly paper-based record-keeping, improve patients safety and lower costs. "The opportunity for us in the stimulus package is to be able to more quickly push this out to the 3,000 doctors that serve our patients," said Beaumont CEO Ken Matzick.