How ORISE is Making a Difference

ORISE Collaborates to Successfully Design Electronic Medical Records System for Argonne National Laboratory

Argonne National Laboratory (ANL) provides occupational health examinations and monitors exposures to workplace hazards for its employees. ANL has been operating since 1946 and, in ANL’s legacy system, worker health and occupational exposure records were stored as images only. ANL required an electronic medical records software solution to improve the functioning of its on-site medical clinic functions.

The Oak Ridge Institute for Science and Education (ORISE) and its partner, Axion Health (formerly Occupational HealthLink), leveraged capability developed for the National Supplemental Screening Program (NSSP) to design and implement a secure, comprehensive and scalable Web-based system for the administration and integration of medical data and job hazard information for ANL workers.

The solution that ORISE and Axion developed for ANL was initially implemented in 2008. The system is capable of maintaining records of complete lifecycle health services, from pre-hire status to retirement or former worker status. The system incorporates pre-hire exams, worker health exams and registry management features, while integrating job and site-based exposure surveillance data. Clinicians can enter worker data directly into the system, eliminating multiple points of data entry. The database integrates with ANL’s existing information technology systems. Automated alerts and notifications also inform stakeholders of upcoming exams, urgent findings and actions required, as appropriate.

This electronic medical records solution provides ANL with a cost-efficient, compliant system that yields searchable, analyzable data. Improvements in data usability will allow better identification of worker health issues and better targeting of responses.