Healthcare IT News - March 2009 - (Page 13) www.HealthcareITNews.com March 2009 ■ Healthcare IT News 13 NEWSBRIEFS MouNt SINaI to BooSt aSSEt MaNagEMENt Mount Sinai Hospital, a New York-based, 1,171-bed, tertiary care hospital, part of the Mount Sinai Medical Center complex, has signed a multi-year contract with GE Healthcare for management consulting and IT services. Hospital officials will use the company’s AgileTrac automated workflow and visualization system.The AgileTrac system, uses real-time location technology to keep track of people and medical devices. The system also gathers clinical data to produce next steps, status updates and notifications as patients and devices move through the facility. South Carolina faces infections head on State’s 65 hospitals expected to benefit from collaboration. By BernIe MonegaIn, Editor COLUMBIA, SC – South Carolina’s 65 acute care hospitals are banding together to prevent healthcare-acquired infections across the state. The effort is expected to save hundreds of lives and as all-dIgItal caNcER hoSpItal up aNd RuNNINg IN aRIzoNa Cancer Treatment Centers of America has opened the nation’s first all-digital cancer hospital in Goodyear, Ariz. The 213,000square-foot CTCA at Western Regional Medical Center (Western), extends the electronic health record system launched by CTCA last year. Fully “wired” from the ground up, Western opened its doors in December with all systems integrated into the core EHR and all providers able to contribute to the continuity of care document. Reid Tribble, MD, a vascular surgeon, says he’s committed to the statewide initiative of finding a way to prevent healthcareacquired infections. much $40 million a year. Key to the effort is the use of an automated infection-monitoring tool developed by the Premier healthcare alliance. Premier will also develop an information-sharing portal to support the initiative. Health Sciences South Carolina, the South Carolina Hospital Association and the Premier healthcare alliance announced last month the formation of the South Carolina H e a l t h c a r e Q u a l i t y Tr u s t (SC HQT). The trust includes the state’s largest research universities - Clemson University, Medical University of South Carolina and the University of South Carolina. It also includes the state’s largest health systems - Greenville Hospital System, Palmetto Health and Spartanburg Scott Petit, MD, of Carolina Cardiac Surgery Associates, is among the people across South Carolina taking it upon themselves to prevent healthcare-acquired infections. Regional Healthcare System. All of them will work with Health Sciences South Carolina to adopt existing evidence-based best practices, as well as research and develop new methods, to eliminate preventable infections. “We all know someone whose life has been altered, sometimes InfeCTIon see page 14 New York hospital keeps it cool Data-linking Tech keeps tabs on temperature of refrigerated items. St. Joseph’s Hospital recently freed caregivers from the manual By BernIe MonegaIn, Editor SYRACUSE, NY – St. Joseph’s tasks of monHospital Health Center, a non- i t o r i n g a n d profit, 431-bed logging refrighospital in west- e r a t o r t e m ern New York, perature data has deployed several times wireless technol- a day for every ogy to keep tabs re frigeration St. Joseph’s Hospital Health Center in Syracuse, N.Y. is part of a on refrigerated unit by deploynetwork that includes 22 remote locations. Chuck Fennell healthcare items, ing technolsuch as vaccines, medication and ogy from NEC, headquartered actions taken, said Chuck Fennell, blood bags. in Irving, Texas, and Redwood, St. Joseph’s CIO. St. Joseph’s has refrigerators C a l i f . - b a s e d A e r o S c o u t . “Automatic monitoring and at its main campus and at 22 AeroScout provided the Wi-Fi reporting on asset temperatures remote locations. tags that monitor the tempera- has helped us improve compliance and enhanced the ability of our nurses and clinical staff to Worldwide enterprise-class WlaN focus on their most important equipment end-user revenue ($M) task – providing the best patient 2009 2006 2008 2007 care possible,” Fennell said. Worldwide Wi-Fi LBS endAt St. Joseph’s, AeroScout WiThe Joint Commission and ture of refrigerated items, while 391.6 75.4 107.5 212.8 user revenue other hospital monitoring orga- NEC served as systems integra- Fi tags are placed inside refrigWorldwide enterprise-class erators and freezers containing nizations set stringent standards tor. 1446 1969 WLAN end-user revenue 2541 for frequent temperature moniThis automated system2903 helps temperature-sensitive items, (excludes NICs- network toring of refrigerated materials ensure safe temperature ranges such as vaccines, pharmaceutiinterface cards) in hospitals. For nursing, labora- and compliance with require- cals, tissues, blood bags, organs tory and HEALTHCARE WiFi main- ments of The Joint Commission and patient test results. The pharmacy staff, 112 166 278 236 infrastructure end-user taining these standards has tra- and other regulatory bodies by tags wirelessly send temperarevenue ditionally been a time-consum- generating reports on status, ture readings over the hospital’s SOURCE: IDC , 2008 e l Connect: GraPHS 0309 ing manual process, said Chuck trends, alarms and corrective MonITor see page 15 aRMy SpEEch INItIatIvE paRt oF EhR SatISFactIoN pRogRaM The U.S. Army Medical Department has expanded its use of speech technology to 10,000 of its physicians to more than 90,000 worldwide. The Army recently purchased Dragon Medical speech recognition software from Burlington, Mass.-based Nuance. The Army’s investment in Dragon Medical is part of MEDCOM AHLTA Provider Satisfaction (MAPS), an initiative of the U.S. Army Surgeon General to enhance clinicians’ experience with AHLTA, the military’s electronic health record system. work starts in Montana KALISPELL, MT atlaNta hoSpItal oFFERS BEdSIdE EducatIoN, tv The Emory University Orthopaedics & Spine Hospital, which opened last month, features the latest in technology, including a patient education and entertainment system in every room. Each of the 45 patient rooms and several family waiting areas will have a Cerner CareAware myStation system that gives patients access to educational materials related to their condition, a place to view their personal health record and a way to communicate with their caregivers and manage their schedule. The system is connected directly to the hospital’s Cerner Millennium EMR. More at HealthcareITnews.com e Connect: HoSPItaLS 0309 l – Northwest Healthcare, the largest participant in the Health Information Exchange of Montana (HIEM), has begun to aggregate data from all core clinical systems. This implementation of technology developed by the Informatics Corporation of America (ICA) is the first phase in the initiative to integrate patient information across six hospitals and more than a dozen clinics. Deployment of ICA technology throughout the remaining hospitals and clinics is slated for completion by mid-2009. The HIEM contracted with Nashville-based ICA in July 2008 for a single-source solution to consolidate patient data from existing clinical information systems in medical facilities throughout a 45,000 squaremile area in western Montana. Hospitalists at Northwest Healthcare and Family Health Care have begun using the technology to view information from all hospital-based clinical MonTana see page 15 http://www.HealthcareITNews.com http://www.HealthcareITnews.com
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