Related Articles Rapid Response to COVID 19 Health Informatics Support for Outbreak Management in an Academic Health System J Am Med Inform Assoc 2020 Mar 24 Authors Reeves JJ Hollandsworth HM Torriani FJ Taplitz R Abeles S Tai Seale M Millen M Clay BJ Longhurst CA Abstract OBJECTIVE To describe the implementation of technological support important for optimizing clinical management of the COVID 19 pandemic MATERIALS AND METHODS Our health system has confirmed prior and current cases of COVID 19 An Incident Command Center was established early in the crisis and helped identify electronic health record EHR based tools to support clinical care RESULTS We outline the design and implementation of EHR based rapid screening processes laboratory testing clinical decision support reporting tools and patient facing technology related to COVID 19 DISCUSSION The EHR is a useful tool to enable rapid deployment of standardized processes UC San Diego Health built multiple COVID 19 specific tools to support outbreak management including scripted triaging electronic check in standard ordering and documentation secure messaging real time data analytics and telemedicine capabilities Challenges included the need to frequently adjust build to meet rapidly evolving requirements communication and adoption and coordinating the needs of multiple stakeholders while maintaining high quality pre pandemic medical care CONCLUSION The EHR is an essential tool in supporting the clinical needs of a health system managing the COVID 19 pandemic PMID 32208481 PubMed as supplied by publisher