Healthcare IT News - May 2008 - (Page 12)

12 Healthcare IT News ■ May 2008 hoSpItAlS & IdNs www.HealthcareITNews.com By BernIe MonegaIn, Editor DUBlIN, OH Cardinal Health grants $1M for projects, including IT which will include information technology. They will provide funding for programs that implement creative and replicable methods to improve the quality of patient care, said Cardinal Health Chairman and CEO R. Kerry Clark. Initiatives that received funding include a regional, collaborative program to reduce MethicillinResistant Staphylococcus Aureus – Thirty-four hospitals, health systems and clinics across the country will receive grants ranging from $5,000 to $50,000 from Cardinal Health, a global healthcare products and services company based in Dublin, Ohio. The grants, which total $1 million, are earmarked for new and innovative programs, many of (MRSA) in New Mexico, an initiative to create the largest national clinical outcomes database to define, measure and benchmark the highest standards of practice in anesthesiology and a hospital in New Jersey using pre-labeled and pre-filled insulin pens to reduce errors in insulin administration. ■ DakoTa Continued from page 1 More at HealthcareITnews.com e Connect: GraNtS 0508 l all three plan to go live with the new technology – which includes financial management software – by November 2008. “All three of these hospitals are starting from ground zero,” said Marlene Miller, program director of the Flex CAH HIT Network Program at the UND Center for Rural Health. “They all have individual work plans, but they are moving forward as a group and we LAN of the Free. Introducing the new Welch Allyn Spot Vital Signs LXi with wireless technology. ® Now you can have the freedom you deserve—the new wireless Spot Vital Signs LXi integrates with your existing hospital infrastructure. Using Welch Allyn Connex™ Data Management System, the Spot Vital Signs LXi will wirelessly send vitals data to a range of EMRs. You choose the technology and we’ll provide the workflow that’s best suited for your hospital and your nurses, letting them wirelessly capture and document patient vitals from the bedside with no extra steps. And that’s liberating for everyone. e l Connect: WeLCHaLLYN 0508 are tracking them closely. We discuss challenges with them and share lessons learned. This is a pilot, and HRSA wants to share the results with other small communities.” The EHR systems at the three hospitals – in the towns of Northwood, Cavalier and Park River – will also be linked to a tertiary care center, Altru Health System in Grand Forks, N.D. Altru will serve as the data center for the smaller hospitals, storing the servers and shouldering some of the cost. Project officials say providers at each CAH and at Altru will eventually be able to access patient records from anywhere via an online physician portal. The three hospitals are also linked to an ancillary care facility, such as a community health center or a long-term care unit, which will also benefit from the IT implementation. “Because of the collaborative nature of the project, we’re able to build this for about $9,500 per hospital instead of $90,000,” said Chad Peterson, CIO at Northwood Deaconess Health Center in Northwood, N.D. “We all share providers and patients with Altru. What’s important is that we all have access to the same patient information. We don’t want patients registering twice, or duplicate lab orders. One of the best things about this project is developing a closer working relationship with our tertiary care center. It’s creating a lot of momentum for other projects.” T he IT implementation at Northwood Deaconess has moved relatively quickly, said Peterson. The hospital went live with its new financial management software in April, and intends to have the EMR component ready by mid-summer. Northwood chose Omaha, Neb.-based American Healthnet as its vendor, while the other hospitals are working with Dairyland Healthcare Solutions of Glenwood, Minn. Peterson noted that Northwood’s progress has been heartening to the community, as the town was hit by a devastating tornado in August of last year. The health center endured more than $700,000 worth of damage, and is still recovering. Lynette Dickson, project director for North Dakota’s State Office of Rural Health Grant Program, says the most challenging aspect of the project has been managing change, rather than dealing with new technology. “The magnitude of a project like this should not be underestimated,” Dickson said. “It’s important to have a diverse team with representatives from the clinical groups who will be using the technology. People need to be comfortable working together. Setting parameters from the beginning is crucial, as is developing good consumer education tools.” ■ More at HealthcareITnews.com e Connect: daKota 0508 Advancing Frontline Care™ ©2007 Welch Allyn MC4788 l For more information, please call 1.800.289.2500. www.welchallyn.com http://www.HealthcareITNews.com http://HealthcareITnews.com http://www.healthcareitnews.com/story.cms?id=9165 http://www.welchallyn.com http://HealthcareITnews.com http://www.healthcareitnews.com/story.cms?id=9141 http://www.healthcareitnews.com/story.cms?id=9197 http://www.welchallyn.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Healthcare IT News - May 2008

Healthcare IT News - May 2008 Contents Help Wanted Speeding Up Government Silos Privacy Pressures Tracking Disease Rah Rah Health! TriZetto Suit Outcomes Watch Ambulatory EHRs

Healthcare IT News - May 2008

For optimal viewing of this digital publication, please enable JavaScript and then refresh the page. If you would like to try to load the digital publication without using Flash Player detection, please click here.