Healthcare IT News - February 2009 - (Page 14) 14 Healthcare IT News ■ February 2009 PhySIcIAN PRActIcES & AMBuLAtoRy cARE Microsoft SQL Server backend. The fact that PRISM stores data in SQL Server database makes it possible to easily merge information from other applications – GE Centricity on the business side and SRS Freedom Chart Manager, said ProCare CIO Gil Lola. In turn, it makes it possible to create meaningful reports on all aspects of patient care and response to treatment. Today, seven of ProCare’s 13 clinics use PRISM. The others are slated for implementation over the next couple of years. Davis sees potential beyond ProCare. For instance, primary care practices might use it as a proactive tool to head off serious diseases. There is also potential in research, public health and the business side of healthcare. ProCare is collaborating with Priority Health, a Michigan health management organization on new ways to share and use the data. “The future for this is really outstanding,” Davis said. ■ More at www.HealthcareITNews.com MICHIgaN Continued from page 13 providing optimum care,” Davis said. Former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich, the founder of the Center for Health Transformation, apparently is on the same wavelength. The focus of healthcare reform must be on best practices, data-driven healthcare and reimbursement, he said during a teleconference last month. “We must focus on outcome,” Gingrich said. “We’re on the cusp of a new era,” Davis said. “The question is how can we improve the quality of the system?” Before he developed PRISM, Davis had observed that executives had detailed quantitative data to make their business decisions while clinical decisions were still based on anecdotal infor- Newt Gingrich mation. The most recent version of PRISM is written in Clarion Professional Developer Enterprise Edition with a IpaTIeNT Continued from page 13 HealthcareITNews.com e ● Connect: MICHIGaN 0209 embracED Charles Prober, MD, senior associate dean for medical education and professor of pediatrics and of microbiology and immunology at Stanford says, the university is taking steps to ensure that technology does not replace medical students’ bedside skills. In particular, he says, “Beginning with our incoming class of 2008 (current first-year students), we developed and implemented a program, E4C, or Educators-forCARE (Compassion, Advocacy, Responsibility and Empathy). This program was expressly designed to enhance the bedside skills of our students while underscoring the critical guiding principles of physicians as compassionate, responsible and empathetic advocates for their patients.” “The program matches groups of six incoming students with a single faculty member who will serve as the students’ guide and mentor in the approach to patients throughout the students’ time in medical Abraham school,” he said. Verghese says Verghese, MD doctors spend an “astonishing amount of time in front of the monitor charting in the electronic medical record, moving patients through the system and examining tests results. And medical students learn through example. “In short, bedside skills have plummeted in inverse proportion to the available technology,” he said. According to a 2008 survey by the American Board of Medical Specialties, when it comes to choosing a doctor, most Americans rank bedside manner and communications skills at the top of the list of qualities important to them, far ahead of the doctor’s hospital affiliation, place of training or office location. “Communication skills are increasingly recognized as an essential component of quality healthcare, and not something that’s nice, but not necessary,” said ABMS president and CEO Kevin Weiss, MD. “These survey findings confirm that patients are demanding that their doctors treat them not just with medicines and procedures, but with empathy and information that they understand.” “I truly believe that good bedside skills make residents more efficient,” Verghese said. “Doctors who rely on hands-on skills tend to order tests more judiciously, reducing the number of unnecessary and expensive trips to the radiology department.” ■ More at HealthcareITNews.com e ●Connect: IPatIeNt 0209 http://www.HealthcareITNews.com http://www.HealthcareITNews.com http://www.healthcareitnews.com/news/managing-pain-michigan-docs-put-data-work-patient-care http://www.tsystem.com http://www.HealthcareITNews.com http://www.healthcareitnews.com/news/docs-urge-back-bedside-skills
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