Message from the President

Most if not all of you are aware of the major initiative to improve our electronic medical record (GLIMR) and to extend it across all of our partners. The outcome will be a single patient record for all of Great Lakes Health (Kaleida Health, ECMC and UB). This single record will dramatically improve our ability to care for our patients, to perform research, and to train our students by making patients health information available in one place, with only one system to learn.

The electronic medical record, however, is just a tool to help us along a journey whose goal is to provide the best health care for our community. This journey takes us through the ever-changing landscape of medical science, reimbursement, regulation and competition. The exact route cannot be determined in advance; we need to be nimble and improvise. Most importantly, we need to keep our eye on the goal.

We cannot make the journey alone, as individuals. We are not lone hikers on a trail, but rather a large team that can tackle large obstacles. Learning how to act as a team is one of the great challenges of this journey.

We need excellent equipment for this journey. We need the best hospitals, supplies, electronic medical records. But we must not confuse obtaining the equipment with the journey itself.

I am confident we can make this journey. I am confident we can work together. I am confident we can equip ourselves with the best. It is imperative that we succeed, because the health of our community depends on it.

Peter Winkelstein, MD, MS, MBA, FAAP
Medical/Dental Staff President
Kaleida Health