Healthcare IT News - November 2007 - (Page 15) www.HealthcareITNews.com November 2007 ■ Healthcare IT News 15 NEWSBRIEFS It’S OpENVISta FOR L.a. dOctORS’ hOSpItaL Century City Doctors Hospital in Los Angeles, a 120-bed acute care facility, is implementing the OpenVista platform as part of an integrated information systems initiative established by the physician group that acquired, renovated and opened the hospital in 2005. Hospital executives tapped Aliso Viejo, Calif.-based Medsphere System Corp. for the technology, which is derived from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs’ VistA EHR. New CIO joins Catholic Healthcare West Benjamin Williams says the business case never escapes him. By BerNIe MoNegAIN, Editor – Benjamin R. Williams, who recently joined Catholic Healthcare West as senior vice president and CIO, says he will be a businessman first and technology expert second. Williams, who is a certified public accountant, was formerly senior vice president of SAN FRANCISCO information services and CIO at St. Healthcare IT News asked Williams Joseph Health System in Orange, about the challenges associated with Calif. AT CHW, he will lead the conhis new role and about the changing solidated technology efforts of the role of CIOs today. organization’s 42 hospitals across How has the role of the healthCalifornia, Arizona and Nevada. care CIO changed over the 20 CHW West is the eighth largest hosyears you’ve been in the healthcare pital system in the country. Williams Benjamin R. industry? Williams will manage a team of about 1,000 The CIO role is demanding healthcare IT professionals. leadership at the senior executive level in He succeeds Gayle Simkin, who retired in healthcare. CIOs must establish themselves February. WIllIAMS see page 18 tExaS hOSpItaL mOVES tOWaRd ENtERpRISE EhR As part of its goal to create an electronic medical record throughout its healthcare enterprise, Scott & White, a 558-bed hospital in Temple, Texas, has gone live with an anesthesia information management system from Mobile, Ala.-based DocuSys Inc. “Scott & White has been moving toward an electronic medical record since the mid ‘90s,” said Jeff Ray Gibson, MD, senior staff anesthesiologist and chairman of the PeriOperative Systems Oversight Committee at Scott & White. “DocuSys is helping us achieve this goal by creating a perioperative electronic medical record solution that integrates well into our workflow.” Continuum to to give staff remote access HeAlTHCAre IT NeWS STAff CHS holds security at hand Hospital officials say they don’t push the vein scanning on patients, but highlight its safety features. By Molly MerrIll, Contributing Writer KENtucKy hEaLth SyStEm tapS pEROt FOR It hELp Jewish Hospital & St. Mary’s Healthcare, a health system based in Louisville, Ky., has signed a 10-year IT contract with Plano, Texas-based Perot Systems. The financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. Perot Systems will create a centralized information technology environment and manage IT services such as data center operations, network operations and the help desk, among other functions. The intent, said Mark Carter, JHSMH senior vice president and CIO, is to integrate the two former organizations’ IT functions. – Continuum Health Partners, a health system made up of five New York hospitals, will roll out technology to give physicians and staff remote access to medical applications and patient information. The health system, which includes Beth Israel Medical Center, Roosevelt Hospital, St. Luke’s Hospital, Long Island College Hospital and The New York Eye and Ear Infirmary, is rolling out PowerTerm WebConnect, technology developed by Closter, N.J.-based Ericom Software. The technology is designed to provide secure, centrally managed access to the terminal server-based GE PRISM medical application and to confidential patient information anywhere, anytime. It also provides access to practice management applications. ■ NEW YORK More at HealthcareITNews.com e Connect: CoNtINuuM 1107 – Carolinas HealthCare System has deployed a new technology system called Patient Access Secured System to help identify patients across its acute care settings, using their palms. Three and a half years ago CHS began researching technologies that would improve patient identity management as the health system’s executives embarked on the process of converting from paper to electronic medical records. Jim Burke, director of information systems at CHS, said he and his team looked at finger printing, voice printing and retinal scanning, but found these technologies too invasive for patients. They wanted to employ technology that would keep the patients’ identity secure and also make them feel comfortable, he said. The team discovered a technology called PalmSecure from Fujitsu in a trade magazine. The scanner makes an identification Jim Burke based on the vein pattern in the CHARLOTTE, NC Palm screening has proven itself as an accurate identifier of patients at Carolinas HealthCare System in Charlotte, N.C. hand, using infrared light, which makes the pattern appear to be black. The pattern is used to verify identity based on pre-registration in the system. After six months of testing, the team discovered that scanner accuracy was constant as long as the sensor remained in the same position. The team designed a cradle for the scanner that would still be able to read the patient’s palm but could be washed after each use. CArolINAS see page 17 caROLINaS hEaLthcaRE tO ExpaNd aSSEt tRacKINg Carolinas HealthCare System in Charlotte, N.C., the third largest public healthcare system in the United States, will deploy asset tracking technology across its acute care facilities. CHS plans to roll out a Wi-Fi-based Real Time Location System from Ekahau Inc., based in Helsinki, Finland. This past summer CHS began tracking infusion pumps and ventilators across its campuses but now will expand its reach to cover thousands of hospital assets, making it one of the largest RTLS installations in the country. More at HealthcareITNews.com e Connect: HoSPItaLS 1107 l do mobile devices pose infection control risks at point of care? yes 25% No 35% yes 65% January 2005 September 2007 e l Connect: GraPHS 1107 Breeding ground for bacteria? Study shows docs like mobility, but worry about germs. By BerNIe MoNegAIN, Editor No 75% Interviews with 100 physicians conducted over four months, beginning in April SOURCE: SPyGLASS CONSULTING GROUP - HEALTHCARE WITHOUT BOUNDS: POINT OF CARE COMPUTING FOR PHySICIANS l – Physicians’ fear of infection is on the rise, spurred by the increasing use of mobile technology at the bedside, according to a new study by Spyglass Consulting Group. Healthcare Without Bounds: Point of Care Computing for MENLO PARK, CA Physicians discusses existing workflow inefficiencies in accessing clinical information, current usage models for computing devices and solutions, and barriers for widespread adoption. Of the 100 physicians interviewed by Spyglass, 65 said they were worried about the threat of infection from the use of computing devices at the point of care. When Spyglass conducted a similar study in January 2005, MoBIle see page 16 http://www.HealthcareITNews.com http://www.HealthcareITNews.com http://www.healthcareitnews.com/story.cms?id=8036 http://www.HealthcareITNews.com http://www.healthcareitnews.com/story.cms?id=8039
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