Healthcare IT News - September 2007 - (Page 17)

www.HealthcareITNews.com September 2007 ■ Healthcare IT News 17 NEWSBRIEFS MoSt HoSpItalS aRE Not REady FoR RFId – yEt A recent survey of healthcare CIOs suggests that hospitals are not yet ready to jump on the RFID bandwagon. However, market observers forecast rapid growth on this front. The College of Healthcare Information Management Executives polled its members on their organizations’ plans to implement RFID, or radio frequency identification technologies. Seventy-six percent of responding CHIME members reported that their organizations are not considering using RFID technology for asset tracking. OpenVista in West Texas has national implications. By BerNIe MoNegaIN, Editor MIDLAND, EDITH gets job done at Midland compile data to substantiate the return on its $7.1 million investment for the OpenVista software and services it purchased from the Medsphere Systems Corp. of Aliso Viejo, Calif. Midland is the first privatesector hospital in the nation to fully implement the Veterans Health Administration’s Vista electronic medical record. “We felt we completely understood the risks of a novel project,” said David Whiles, Midland’s information systems director. From the start, Whiles said he and other executives at Midland understood that OpenVista, which is in use at more than 170 VA hospitals across the country, would cost them less than half as much as commercially available products. INdIaNa HoSpItal to dEploy HEaltH INFo ExcHaNgE South Central Indiana’s Bloomington Hospital has named the vendors that will help deploy a health information exchange to physicians in the region. Hospital officials say they will use Axolotl’s Elysium hybrid federated product, which allows providers to access laboratory reports and radiology reports from any secure Web connection. Hospital officials also announced they have selected HealthBridge, a not-forprofit health information exchange serving the Greater Cincinnati area. TX – Midland Memorial Hospital, a 320-bed acute care community hospital in West Texas, has begun to reap some of the benefits of its recently implemented electronic health record system. With several months under their belts, executives at Midland Memorial figure their experience could serve as a model for other hospitals facing migration from paper to digital. At least anecdotally, clinicians can point to improved patient care, fewer errors and reduced costs as the hospital begins to A clinician at Midland Memorial Hospital in Midland, Texas, enters some notes in the OpenVista system the hospital recently adopted. Midland Memorial officials expect the project will serve as a model for other hospitals around the country. “With the financial challenges we face as the safety-net provider for our community, we were unable to afford a commercial IT solution,” said Russell Meyers, Midland’s president and CEO. “The OpenVista product offered MIdlaNd see page 19 Clinics first at Bronx hospital St. Barnabas takes unusual approach to EHR rollout. By BerNIe MoNegaIN, Editor pIttSBuRgH HEaltH SyStEM actIvatES cpoE SyStEM West Penn Allegheny Health System in Pittsburgh, Pa. has activated a new computerized physician order entry system at the 665-bed Allegheny General Hospital in Pittsburgh and the 59-bed AGH Suburban Campus in Bellevue, Pa. The facilities have adopted the Sunrise Clinical Manager product from the Eclipsys Corporation of Boca Raton, Fla. Sunrise Clinical Manager, which is hosted remotely at the Eclipsys Technology Solutions Center in Mountain Lakes, N.J., has processed more than a million orders. BlESSINg HEaltH SyStEM to lINk pHySIcIaNS Quincy, Ill.-based Blessing Health System plans to implement Allscripts’ electronic health record and practice management software to connect its hospitals and independent and employed physicians. Blessing operates two hospitals, the 340-bed Blessing Hospital and the Illini Community Hospital. Blessing Hospital employs 240 physicians and sees 13,400 inpatients and 245,000 outpatients annually. The relaxation of Stark regulations prompted Blessing to connect its 21 independent faculty physicians and medical residents at the Quincy Family Practice Center with Blessing’s employed physicians and hospitals. HealthcareITNews.com e l Connect: HoSPItaLS 0907 More at – St. Barnabas, a 461-bed acute care hospital located in the heart of the Bronx, has completed the rollout of electronic health records in the pediatric units of all three of its ambulatory care clinics. St. Barnabas, which rolled out Sunrise Ambulatory Care, developed by Boca Raton, Fla.-based Eclipsys, is the first to do so in an outpatient setting without first using it on the inpatient side. The rollout went smoothly, said Harry Shuman, MD, senior vice president at St. Barnabas Hospital. “The activation went more smoothly than I could have ever imagined,” he said. “With 100 percent of our BRONX, NY physicians using Sunrise Ambulatory Care where it is activated, we will soon be able to begin documenting how the solution’s automated clinical documentation and EMR is helping us improve patient care, cost and satisfaction outcomes.” St. Barnabas Hospital is a not-for-profit, nonHarry Shuman, MD sectarian, acute care community hospital and Level I Trauma Center The network includes the hospital, a nursing home and the three outpatient clinics. Clinicians see more than 300,000 ambulatory patients a year. The new technology gives them BarNaBas see page 20 Efficiencies yield $500,000 annually for Florida system By BerNIe MoNegaIN, edITor Hospitals report cost as biggest barrier to It adoption Significan barrier 1,500 COMMuNITY HOSPITALS SuRVEYED IN THE FALL OF 2006 Somewhat of a barrier 54% 32% 27% 23% 16% 11% 51% 40% 50% 52% 59% 51% 94% 87% 79% 82% 67% 62% SOuRCE: AMERICAN HOSPITAL ASSOCIATION Initial costs Ongoing costs Interoperability with current systems Acceptance by clinical staff Availability of well trained IT staff Inability of technology to meet needs e l Connect: GraPHS 0907 – Lee Memorial Health System, which provides care for patients throughout southwest Florida, is saving $500,000 a year by shaving minutes off a variety of tasks. Looking ahead, the health system, which was founded 90 years ago, is working on trimming yet a couple more processes before it turns its attention to a review of the technology it has in place to look for even more ways to improve efficiencies. Lee Memorial employs business process management technology called TeamWorks, developed by Austin, Texasbased Lombardi Software. The health system uses Lombardi for patient scheduling and information, processing new hires, tracking professional development and changing employee status. Using Lombardi to automate the new hire process, Lee Memorial reduced the time from 120 minutes to 15 seconds and CAPE CORAL, FL lee see page 18 http://www.HealthcareITNews.com http://www.HealthcareITNews.com http://www.healthcareitnews.com/story.cms?id=7674

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Healthcare IT News - September 2007

Contents Alaska Sweep SiCKO Debate Data Exchange Rx EDITH knows Hold That Script IT in the Sun Breathing Easy IT on the Menu Ambulatory EMRs Identity Crisis

Healthcare IT News - September 2007

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