Healthcare It News - February 2008 - (Page 35)

www.HealthcareITNews.com February 2008 ■ Healthcare IT News 35 NEWSBRIEFS MIDWEST phySIcIaNS GET accESS TO cOMMUNITy EMR Provena Health, a 1,800-physician health system in Illinois and Indiana, plans to offer an electronic medical records system to its affiliated physicians. To encourage widespread adoption of the EMR among its affiliated physician group – Alliance Health – and to alleviate costs associated with implementation and support, Provena will host Misys EMR and Misys Tiger practice management software through Provena Saint Joseph Medical Center in Joliet, Ill. Davies winner: EMR an asset, not an expense By rICHard PIzzI, Associate Editor – When Christopher Crow, MD, opened his two-physician family practice here in 2001, he decided to maintain his patient records the “old paper way.” But after studying other industries, such as aviation and banking, Crow concluded that healthcare “had glaring PLANO, TX WaShINGTON STaTE ONcOLOGISTS aDOpT EMR Capital Oncology, a six-physician oncology practice in Olympia, Wash., has completed installation of a new electronic medical records system. Last December, Rabbit Healthcare Systems of Austin, Texas, completed implementation of its EMR software at five of Capital Oncology’s six offices. The sixth office went online in January. Capital Oncology was founded in February 2007 and began treating patients last May. It offers treatments, including on-site chemotherapy and laboratory services, to patients in five Washington counties. Pharmacists tap eMr to improve access to patient healthcare data Canadian project looking to expand nationally by 2010 By rICHard PIzzI, Associate Editor SAULT STE. MARIE, ONTARIO deficiencies that cried out for automation.” Two years later, his practice implemented electronic medical records, and has enjoyed financial and quality improvements ever since. As a result of its achievements, Crow ’s prac tice – Village Health Partners – was honored with a 2007 Davies Award in the ambulatory care Crow. “It’s very important to category from the Healthcare recognize that. It’s part of the Information and Management toolkit you need in order to be Systems Society. more efficient and “We’ve cut our run a better busiVillage Health will receive its award staff per provider ness. This technolat the HIMSS08 ratio in half since ogy should help Annual Conference implementation.” doctors generate & Exhibition in income and get – Christopher Crow, MD a return on their Orlando. “An EMR softinvestment.” ware package is an asset to a The annual HIMSS Nicholas practice, not an expense,” said Crow see page 38 Beth Israel to link affiliated physicians By BerNIe MoNegaIN, Editor pORTaL SUppORTS NaTIONaL hypERTENSION REGISTRy The American Society of Hypertension is poised to roll out a physician collaboration portal that makes it possible for physicians to share patient information. ASH expects the new portal will help grow its National Hypertension and Cardiovascular Risk Factor Registry. ASH, which was founded in 1985, is the largest organization of hypertension researchers and healthcare providers in the United States. The society tapped Austin, Texas-based Vemics, Inc. to develop the portal. SaN DIEGO DOcS IMpLEMENT DaTa pROTEcTION FOR EMRS Graybill Medical Group, one of the largest providers of primary care in San Diego County, Calif., has deployed a suite of data protection products, including a disk-based backup, recovery and virtual tape library appliance and a scalable tape library. Using tiered data protection offerings from San Diego-based Overland Storage, Inc., Graybill’s leaders hope they have laid the foundation for a reliable and scalable backup and recovery system. The practice already reports that it has reduced its backup window by 50 percent while lowering administrative overhead from seven hours a week to less than one hour. HealthcareITNews.com e ●Connect: PHYSICIaNS 0208 More at – Pharmacists in this small Canadian city leapt ahead of their colleagues this winter, becoming the first pharmacists in the country to access patient health information directly from a local practice’s electronic medical records. All 24 pharmacies in Sault Ste. Marie have signed on to the EMRxtra project, a pilot program enabling community pharmacists to access pertinent patient information from the EMR system at Group Health Centre, the largest not-forprofit healthcare organization in the city. GHC is home to the Algoma District Medical Group, considered one of the most technologically advanced physician group practices in Canada. The Lewis O’Brien, MD, lead physician on the EMRxtra project at Group Health Centre in Sault Ste. Marie, Canada, discusses the project with pharmacist Carla Deluco. practice has used an EMR since 1997, and believes the sharing of information with pharmacists will improve collaboration with each patient’s care team. “With the appropriate training and security, pharmacists should be able to access part of a patient’s record,” said Lewis O’Brien, MD, GHC’s lead phy- sician on the EMRxtra project. “Pharmacists can now message doctors within the medical record if they have questions about prescriptions. It improves the counseling that patients get from pharmacists, and our doctors don’t play telephone tag with the pharmacy anymore.” CaNada see page 40 – John Halamka, CIO of Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston – and also of Harvard Medical School – is used to juggling projects. But for his newest endeavor, connecting 300 physician practices affiliated with Beth Israel, he decided to get some outside help. The Beth Israel Physicians Organization is working in tandem with the Beth Israel Medical Center to connect an initial 300 physician practices scattered in disparate locations around Massachusetts and New England. Halamka says more practices can come on board after the initial 300 are up and running. The pilot is in the design stage and is slated for rollout in April. BOSTON HalaMka see page 42 AHRQ study: Error-reporting systems aren’t good enough By Molly MerrIll, Associate Editor Physicians’ Error Communication Behavior, By Error Type. Percent Discussed with colleagues – A new study reveals that U.S. physicians are willing to report on medical errors but find that current error-reporting systems are inadequate. According to the study, poor error-reporting systems lead physicians to depend on discussions with colleagues rather than reporting to the hospital or ROCKVILLE, MD health organization, and important information regarding medical errors and prevention is lost. The study was funded by the Department of Health and Human Services’ Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality and appeared in the January/ February issue of Health Affairs. Between July 2003 and March aHrq see page 37 80 60 40 20 10 0 Serious error Reported to risk management Reported to patient safety program Minor error Near miss SOURCE: health affairs, VOL. 27, ISSUE 1. e ● Connect: GraPHS 0208 http://www.HealthcareITNews.com http://www.HealthcareITNews.com http://www.healthcareitnews.com/story.cms?id=8620

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Healthcare It News - February 2008 Contents Hot Potato Wal-Mart Focus CIO Role Wasteland Linking Docs Katrina Work P4P Team Fire Sale? Emergency Systems Beyond Business

Healthcare It News - February 2008

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