NYU's Trinity Center will begin digitizing all future medical records, NYU Langone Medical Center announced last Thursday. This will be the first step in digitizing NYU's medical system.

Langone opened the Trinity Center in downtown Manhattan in 2008 to house new ambulatory care facilitates.

Andrew Rubin, vice president for NYU Medical Center Clinical Affairs and Affiliates, said Langone has been working on this project for several years under the leadership of Dr. Robert Grossman, dean of NYU's School of Medicine.

"We are fortunate that we are a well-run hospital and have the resources to have this happen," Rubin said.

The Trinity Center will now electronically record all patients' medical information, including diagnoses and test results. Physicians will have easy and fast access to patients' medical records not just at Trinity, but at all of NYU's medical service locations. This means records of a patient who was originally treated at Trinity will be available to doctors at Langone.

"This is the future of health care," Rubin said. "This will not only change the way health care is given at NYU, but the nation as a whole."

Rubin said this new system will ultimately lead to better patient care because it will drastically cuts costs and make diagnosis and treatment more efficient. He predicts that with the new system in place, the number of problems resulting from miscommunication and redundant tests is likely to decrease dramatically.

Dr. Roshini Rajapaksa, a physician at Trinity, is excited about the new venture.

"Through this incredibly powerful electronic medical record, we will be able to offer our patients greater efficiency, more patient involvement, and ultimately, safer, well-coordinated and better medical care," Rajapaska said. "We as physicians will also save a lot of time by bypassing much of our former paperwork — time we can now spend actually talking to our patients."

According to Rubin, Trinity's transition is the first of many steps NYU will take to move its medical facilities into the digital age. In two to three years, Langone hopes to complete the digitization process for physician office practices, like those at NYU Trinity.