Healthcare IT News - November 2008 - (Page 39)

38 Healthcare IT News ■ November 2008 vENDORS resistant to a certain antibiotic. Holy Family Hospital uses the software to track Celebrex-related adverse drug reactions in patients who don’t have their serum creatinine monitored. And Washington County Hospital is using the software to target patients using heparin who also experienced low platelet counts. “We identified about four patients last year with heparininduced thrombocytopenia,” said Chris Virgilio, the hospital’s clinical coordinator. “With Sentri7 we are finding about four per month.” www.HealthcareITNews.com Other uses include monitoring patients on drug regimens who might be susceptible to falls, and identifying patients who aren’t compliant with quality measures. “We have prevented significant patient harm and saved lives because of the ability of Sentri7 to easily construct rules, filter out unnecessary work, prospectively identify potential medication errors and present the data in an intuitive format,” said Virgilio. ■ More at HealthcareITNews.com e Connect: SeNtri7 1108 sENTrI7 Continued from page 37 That may not mean that a certain drug was delivered in the wrong dose, but that a drug might have an adverse reaction if combined with other drugs or activities. “We’ve realized there are a lot more opportunities to intervene than we ever imagined,” added Keith Streckenbach, Pharmacy OneSource’s chief strategy officer. The list of uses for Sentri7 is long – “It’s very easy to write rules,” “We’ve realized there are a lOT MORE OppORTuNITIES TO INTERvENE than we ever imagined.” – Keith Streckenbach Streckenbach points out – and company officials say providers are coming up with new applications on a regular basis. Arkansas Heart Hospital, for instance, employs Sentri7 to analyze patients on the drug simvastatin, the hospital’s so-called “statin” of choice. According to Simone Bellamy, the hospital’s clinical coordinator, Sentri7 identifies those also using amiodarone, and alerts clinicians to reduce the dosage of simvastatin to prevent a possible drug interaction. Halifax Regional Hospital uses Sentri7 to identify culture results that would indicate a patient might be ● CoNTraCTs Continued from page 37 the table. … We can’t have another distraction in this country about how to do healthcare interoperability.” Earlier this year, Covisint launched an HIE platform in Tennessee with help from state officials and AT&T, and later announced plans for a nation- Brett Furst wide health information network using Microsoft’s HealthVault platform and AT&T’s Healthcare Community Online virtual private network (VPN) portal. Last month, Covisint announced plans to provide the platform for the Minnesota Health Information Exchange, a not-for-profit organization established by health plans, providers and state officials to create one of the largest HIEs in the nation. And earlier this month, the company announced a contract with several physician groups in southeast Michigan to provide the platform for the My One Health Information Exchange, which would link several thousand physicians treating a majority of the region’s 5 million residents. Officials say the latest contract, with MSMS, passes an important threshold because it involves physicians. “Physician practices will benefit from MSMS Connect because the electronic tools they need will be available through one source,” said Gregory J. Forzley, MD, chairman of the MSMS Board of Directors and medical director of informatics at Saint Mary’s Health Care in Grand Rapids, Mich. “Patients will benefit because the secure electronic transfer of patient information will increase efficiency, quality and safety. We look forward to linking up with more payers, vendors and regional health information networks as they develop.” Furst says Covisint is lining up contracts with at least three other states and four large physician groups to provide the framework for their health information exchanges. “We’re busy. We’re growing,” he said. “The next generation is going to expect this stuff to be there.” ■ More at HealthcareITNews.com e Connect: coNtractS 1108 ● e ● Connect: orioN 1108 http://www.HealthcareITNews.com http://www.HealthcareITNews.com http://www.healthcareitnews.com/story.cms?id=10332 http://www.nuance.com/dictaphone http://www.nuance.com/dictaphone http://www.HealthcareITNews.com http://www.healthcareitnews.com/story.cms?id=10282 http://www.healthcareitnews.com/eConnect.cms?id=10350

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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