Healthcare IT News - November 2008 - (Page 15)

www.HealthcareITNews.com November 2008 ■ Healthcare IT News 15 NEWSBRIEFS WIScoNSIN hoSpItal uSES ‘SmaRt’ tEchNology IN thE oR Sacred Heart Hospital in Eau Claire, Wis., a 344-bed acute care regional medical facility, is using “smart technology” in the operating room. Sacred Heart’s Smart OR is made up of various technological elements that work together to help treat neurosurgery, spine and trauma patients. The hospital uses Westchester, Ill. -based BrainLAB’s BrainSuite iMRI (intra-operative magnetic resonance imaging). Up-tothe-second images are available during surgery to assure that tumors are completely removed before the patient leaves the operating table. Group Health forges Web model Seattle-based IDN continues to build its online services. By BernIe MonegaIn, Editor S E A T T L E – E - m a i l a c c e s s between doctor and patient is the most popular online service Seattle-based Group Health Cooperative provides its members, says Maureena Moran, executive director of Web services for the organization. Today, the Web services, deemed more extensive than those of any other health orga- “there is no one that is doing the full access that we have.” – Maureena Moran Maureena Moran speaks to an audience of health information managers at Group Health in Seattle in October. Idaho hoSpItal automatES papER mEdIcal REcoRdS St. Luke’s Magic Valley Medical Center, a multi-specialty, 213-bed hospital in Twin Falls, Idaho, has transitioned its medical records from paper to electronic files to allow its health information management staff and physicians simultaneous, remote access to patient records to improve workflow and decrease delinquent records. The hospital implemented software from Burlington, Mass.-based eWebHealth. thE chRISt hoSpItal SEt to Roll out EIcu pRogRam The Christ Hospital will become the first in the Greater Cincinnati Tristate to implement an eICU Program designed to improve critical care delivery. The eICU Program, patented by VISICU, combines early warning software and remote monitoring to connect off-site critical care physicians and nurses to ICU patients around the clock. The Christ Hospital’s eICU Program, called Critical Connections, supplements existing ICU bedside care. A critical care team will monitor a total of 44 Christ Hospital ICU beds 24/7. mIchIgaN hEalth SyStEm to automatE BuSINESS SIdE Munson Healthcare is poised to streamline and automate its administrative processes, human resources and payroll functions with new technology. The not-for-profit regional network will deploy a software suite developed by St. Paul, Minn.-based Lawson Software. Munson Healthcare has a medical staff approaching 500 and is affiliated with eight hospitals in northern Michigan, including Munson Medical Center in Traverse City and Paul Oliver Memorial Hospital in Frankfort. The system serves the nearly 600,000 residents of Michigan’s northern Lower Peninsula and the eastern portion of Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. More at HealthcareITnews.com e Connect: HoSPItaLS 1108 changes can be perilous as nurses on one shift rush to give the nurses on the incoming shift critical information about their patients. The scene is often marked by chaos in which key patient data can be lost. A study published in the O c t o b e r Jo i n t Commission Journal on Qua- Judi Bomoni lity and Patient Safety highlights problematic handoffs. “Our findings suggest that patient harm from problematic handoffs is common,” said lead author Barry Kitch, MD, of the Massachusetts General Hospital Institute for Health Policy and Harvard Medical School. To combat the risk of patient harm, hospitals are beginning to roll out technology to remake the OSpITAL ShIfT HandoffS see page 18 h By BernIe MonegaIn, Editor ‘Handoffs’ made orderly with tech nization in the country, serve a model for the industry, and 50 percent of Group Health members use the services. “There is no one that is doing the full access that we have,” Moran said. Up next for Group Health Web services is more emphasis on the after-visit summary and patient scheduling of appointments online and making it possible for patients to see X-rays, MRIs, CT scans and other pictures. There were no models to look at and plenty of naysayers when Group Health began to build its online services back in 2000, Moran said. “Some said, ‘Oh, my older patients won’t use that,’” she said. “Yeah, they do.” Diana Gehring, HIM director at Southern Coos Hospital in Bandon, Ore. , said her hospital would find it difficult to achieve the level of online services Group Health has, mostly because of the lack of resources. Richard M. Wicker, HIM Model see page 16 Loma Linda expands geo It High-tech system gets patients to the right hospital. By BernIe MonegaIn, Editor LOMA LINDA, CA – Loma Linda University Medical Center is about to expand its high-tech lifesaving emergency response system to cover more of Southern California. The system covers San Bernadino and Riverside counties, and Loma Linda executives are talking with Santa Clara County officials to get them on board, too. A map showing traffic patterns and airship and ambulance locations pops up on a The medical center employs dispatcher’s computer screen at Loma Linda University Medical Center. geoinformatics technology to “We won’t have to make sure the ambulance or helicopter takes the patient to the right hospital at the right time. explain 10 years from The right hospital means not only the one that now what this is the closest, but also the one that can best handle technology is.” the emergency. The Web-based Advanced Emergency – Bill Davenhall Geographic Information System (AEGIS) takes into account the hospital’s capacity at the moment, dispatchers make better decisions. what the traffic is like, the weather, and where the The information about hospital ER status is airships, ambulances, police and fire departments displayed on a digital map. AEGIS overlays traffic gIS see page 16 and other emergency resources are located to help Technology adoption - 2008 45% Base: 307 responses, representing more than 700 hospitals Roger Williams automates data backup pROVIDENCE, RI – Roger Williams 43% 42% 40% 36% 35% l Identity RFID management technology e l Connect: GraPHS 1108 Security Speech Automated Data technology warehouse/ recognition alerts mining SOURCE: 19TH ANNUAL 2008 HIMSS LEADERSHIP SURVEy: SPONSORED By CISCO Medical Center has implemented Data Domain technology to accelerate and simplify its backup, restore and disaster recovery processes. The rollout has resulted in near instantaneous time to data recovery syncing, reduced management, improved reliability, significantly increased usable capacity and a scaleable architecture, said RWMC’s lead technical engineer. Andrew Fuss. “All the traditional issues,” drove the change, he said, “including slow and problematic restores and difficulties meeting our backup window.” ■ More at HealthcareITnews.com e Connect: rWMC 1108 l http://www.HealthcareITNews.com http://www.HealthcareITNews.com http://www.HealthcareITNews.com http://www.healthcareitnews.com/story.cms?id=10297 http://www.healthcareitnews.com/story.cms?id=10296

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

Healthcare IT News - November 2008 Contents $700M Strong PHR Power Stepping It Up Geo IT EMRs Go Rural HiMSS Insider: Making a Difference Home for the Blues Merge Amnesty Management Solutions: Outsourcing Appeal Clinical Toolkit: Enterprise PACS

Healthcare IT News - November 2008

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