History of the VUMC Informatics Center

VUMC established the Center for Biomedical Informatics in 1991, with Dr. William W. Stead as its director. Initially (1991-1994), the informatics effort focused exclusively on establishing infrastructure: building the Eskind Biomedical Library, implementing networks and information systems, and recruiting faculty into the School of Medicine's newly formed Division of Biomedical Informatics (DBMI). By 1995, the Informatics Center (as it was now known) was able to use VUMC as a “real world laboratory” to test alternative combinations of people, process and technology to identify the most effective. This experimentation resulted in novel approaches to the electronic patient chart, as well as to clinical decision support. By 1999, decision support tools were in wide use across the hospital. In 2002 the focus extended to the outpatient clinics. Before the end of 2003, these tools had facilitated elimination of paper medical charts across the clinics. See History of IAIMS at VUMC for more on the period from 1993-2001.

In the late 1990s, the IC chose as its goal that “by 2004 policy makers, health care payers, health care providers, individuals, and the information/information technology industry will recognize Vanderbilt as the best place in the world to see how information and communication can be used to improve health and health care processes.” Three events in 2004 suggested this goal had in large part been reached. First, President George W. Bush came to VUMC to see WizOrder and StarPanel. This visit was his first look at health care information technology in an actual inpatient setting. Second, Tennessee Governor Phil Bredesen turned to Vanderbilt to work with the Regional Medical Center in Memphis to test how informatics might be used to increase quality and reduce the cost of TennCare. Third, the staff of the US Senators on the Senate Health Committee came to the Vanderbilt Center for Better Health to learn about health care information technology and to develop an action plan for the Administration and Congress.

Since 2004, joint VUMC and Informatics teams have worked to build upon these successes to achieve the following medical center priorities: supporting inpatient team communication and documentation processes; closing the loop on clinical quality by exploiting the intersection of clinical research and bioinformatics; enabling competency-based learning appropriate to evidence based practice; and building out the DBMI.

Key Figures

William W. Stead, MD

Randolph A. Miller, MD

Daniel R. Masys, MD

Kevin Johnson, MD, MS

Dario Giuse, Dr Ing

Nunzia Giuse, MD, MLS, AHIP

Ed Shultz, MD, MS

Nancy Proctor

Tom Lloyd, BS

John Doulis, MD

Mark Frisse, MD, MBA, MSc