I was rooting for the Detroit Tigers to beat the Minnesota Twins in last Tuesday's play-off game to get into the American League Division Series. I explained to my nine-year-old, baseball-loving son that the Detroit area has been hard hit economically for many years now and they could use a morale booster (not to mention the revenue generated by post-season games). The unemployment rate in Detroit is 22 percent, nearly triple the national average. While they lost in heartbreaking fashion, the week ended with good news out of Flint, 66 miles away, which may have far lasting benefits for the region than the thrill of fall baseball.

Hamilton Community Health Network (HCHN), a 25-physician, six-facility practice serving Flint, MI, will implement an electronic medical record (EMR) system in 2010, thanks to the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. Through a grant from the Department of Health and Human Services' Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), HCHN was awarded more than $2 million in grants for capital improvements, which covers EMR implementations.

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the unemployment rate for the Flint metropolitan area as of August 2009 was 16.3 percent. The national average in the U.S. is 9.6 percent. Capital improvement will bring in construction and jobs to the area. The long-lasting benefit, however, will likely be with HCHN's EMR deployment.

Implemented correctly, with attention paid to business processes and workflow, physician adoption should be high. Post-learning curve, many physicians have said that they're more efficient and as a result can see more patients. This is crucial for the area. The Association of American Medical Colleges predicts a 20 percent shortage of physicians by 2020. Compare that to Michigan's physician workforce shortage, which is 50 percent above the national average, according to a 2007 study by the Albany School of Public Health's Center for Health Workforce Studies. The Michigan State Medical Society predicts a state shortage of 900 physicians by 2010, 2,400 by 2015 and up to 6,000 by 2020. The Society predicts a shortage of 800 physicians in Flint, mid- and northern Michigan by 2020.

Now look at one of Michigan's chronic disease states. According to the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, 707,200 adults and 6,200 children were diagnosed with diabetes in Michigan. The state spent nearly $6 billion annually in Medicare costs associated with diabetes, with 60 percent of direct costs due to hospitalization. Lost productivity from premature death, disability and illness cost an additional $3.5 billion. Imagine the capabilities that an EMR can bring to a physician in terms of managing patients with chronic diseases. Physicians would get alerts when screening tests, such as the HbA1c test, are missed and medications not filled, for example. The ability to e-prescribe saves time for physician and patient. That's just the tip of the iceberg.

HCHN's patients should benefit greatly from their physicians' ability to get a comprehensive clinical view of them. If more physician groups and specialists adopt EMRs and the EMRs from various physician groups can talk to one another, care coordination improves and gaps in care decrease. In a nutshell, this is bigger than baseball.