REDMOND – Walking around his office Friday, Dr. Derek Palmer had his trusty stethoscope slung over his shoulders, but he also wrapped an additional piece of technological equipment around the back of his neck.

Palmer wanted to keep his mouse, for the new computer he will be carrying from room to room, close at hand.

”I’m very nervous today,” Palmer said. ”I don’t want to get too concerned with the technology and forget what the patient is saying.”

He and Dr. Celso Gangan at Redmond Internal Medicine Clinic launched their new electronic medical records system Friday and were the first physicians to take that step through Central Oregon Electronic Medical Records. The company formed last winter to help local medical providers implement electronic records in their practices. It is a subsidiary of the Central Oregon Independent Practice Association, a business organization for physicians, nurse practitioners and physician assistants.

Eventually, Central Oregon EMR hopes to work with other members of the medical community to build a regional health information system. Gangan said that for that reason and others, it made sense for Redmond Internal Medicine Clinic to jump in first.

”I have some trepidation and some excitement, too,” Gangan said. ”I have faith in the program. Everyone will find out how to use this to their own advantage.”

Electronic health records systems store patient information, including medications, family and personal health history, and laboratory test results. All that information is easily available to a physician during appointments or after-hours when a patient calls in with questions about prescriptions or tests.

”All the charts will be gone,” said Cathy Beach, a medical assistant at Redmond Internal Medicine. ”Hopefully, there won’t be as much clutter and it will make things faster.”

Other physician clinics in Central Oregon, including Bend Memorial Clinic and St. Charles Medical Centers in Bend and Redmond, have already launched electronic records systems on their own.

By going through Central Oregon EMR, Palmer and Gangan will receive local technical support from the company and will eventually be able to easily share records with other clinics.

”They always say the fumbles occur at the handoffs,” Palmer said. ”Things can get dropped when you transfer care.”

Redmond Internal Medicine Clinic is one of several local clinics owned by physicians but staffed by Cascade Healthcare Community, the parent company of St. Charles-Bend and Redmond. All the clinics the hospital group helps to manage have signed on with Central Oregon EMR, said Doug Ritchie, a vice president for the company.

For the last 12 weeks, members of Redmond Internal Medicine’s staff have worked to get the new system ready for use, said Office Manager Diana Jacobson. They have entered patients’ names, addresses and insurance information into the system and spent four days this week training to use the software.

Patient loads for the physicians were scaled back Friday, Jacobson said, to allow extra time for computer glitches.

Receptionist Lisa Hadley greeted the first patients to visit Redmond Internal Medicine under the new system Friday by taking their picture with a digital camera. She typed their arrival into the computer, which automatically sent a signal to the medical assistants in the back of the office.

”I think it will be a lot better, a lot safer for people,” said Darwin McKibbin, Palmer’s first patient on Friday. ”It will be easier for him to find the tests I’ve taken. I’ve got a file that thick in there. It’s hard for him to go through.”

Margie Lombardo, Gangan’s first patient under the new system, said she retired from the health care field several years ago and understands the importance of electronic records for patient safety and improved treatment. During her appointment, the computer froze briefly, but technical support staff from Central Oregon EMR were able to get Gangan up and running again in little time.

”It’s a wonderful system,” Lombardo said. ”It makes your medical care, your treatment, accessible to anybody who sits at the computer.”

Security systems are in place, Gangan said, to allow only certain members of the staff to see certain pieces of each patient’s chart. Lombardo said she is not concerned about her medical information staying private, and she hopes the overall move to electronic records in the health field will reduce medical errors and make medical care more convenient.