Healthcare IT News - December 2007 - (Page 12)

12 Healthcare IT News ■ December 2007 hoSpItalS & IDNs www.HealthcareITNews.com patient-centered care is a priority, most still fall short, said D. Shaller, author of the study, “The findings from this project indicate that, while there are many promising examples of organizations achieving excellence in patient-centered care, these innovators are not yet the norm,” Shaller said. “The challenge lies in elevating the norm through strategies at both the organization and system level that leverage the experience of these innovators to motivate large-scale implementation of patient-centered care.” Shaller said one of the keys to success is to make healthcare IT adoption easy for both patients and clinicians, and to implement applications gradually in order to avoid fears that new technology will abruptly undermine the quality of the patient-caregiver interaction. The 34-page study named MCG Health System in Augusta, Ga., and Bronson Methodist Hospital in Kalamazoo, Mich., as achieving patient-centered care. ■ More at HealthcareITnews.com e Connect: PatIeNt 1207 Washington hospital keeps track CENTRALIA, WA – Providence Health & Services is set to deploy real-time tracking technology to help hospital staff find and manage critical equipment. The intent, say hospital officials, is to save time and money. “Eliminating the time and resources associated with searching for and managing assets, whether they are IT equipment, medical devices or even patients and caregivers, will reduce costs and improve operational efficiency,” said Jody Albright, Western Washington CIO at Providence. Providence Health, with 27 hospitals and 46,000 employees in Alaska, Washington, Montana, Oregon and California, will implement the new system first in its Centralia, Wash. facility. More at HealthcareITnews.com e Connect: trackING 1207 PaTIenT Continued from page 11 l and their families; ■ a supportive work environment; ■ systematic measurement and feedback. Most of the experts interviewed for the report agreed that healthcare IT is generally underused. They also said that organizations using healthcare IT applications are enhancing physician-patient partnerships and patient-centered care. Though most providers would say l louIsIana Continued from page 1 Show your hospital the way to enhanced integration. Hospira MedNet® A server-based patient safety solution, Hospira MedNet Integrated Clinical Care can go beyond handling aggregated infusion data and reports; it encompasses interoperability with BPOC systems to support 5-Rights Verification of IV infusions and eMAR documentation. The modular, open-source Hospira MedNet system enhances clinical decision-making by linking pharmacy and other hospital information systems to the point of care. It’s a smoother road to patient safety. Supports multiple Hospira devices, including Symbiq™, Plum A+®, Plum A+®3 and LifeCare PCA®. Learn more about Hospira MedNet at www.hospira.com investment hump,” he said. Homer Memorial is one of seven hospitals rolling out new technology in the first year of the five-year initiative. The others are: Richland Parish Hospital in Delhi, Union General Hospital In Farmerville, LaSalle General Hospital in Jena, Hardtner Medical Center in Olla, DeSoto Regional Health System in Mansfield and Bunkie General Hospital in Bunkie. The hospitals are making room for new cable and wires, new hardware and figuring how they will maintain the systems going forward. They each will be implementing an electronic health record system of their choice. The Louisiana Rural Health Information Exchange, along with the rural hospital coalition and Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center in Shreveport recently announced the technology companies they had selected to build the integrated platform the organizations envision – Carefx. CA, IBM and Initiate Systems. Clinicians will have secure Web access to patient data anywhere, anytime. The projected go-live date for physician access is March. “This is a giant leap forward for us in the IT world,” said Lonnie Dufour, COO and manager of the project at the 25-bed Bunkie General Hospital. “This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity that we would never have been able to afford,” Dufour said. “Really, that was just kind of a pipe dream.” The goal at Bunkie is to start implementation of its CPSI electronic health record on Jan. 1. At Homer Memorial, automation of the financial side of the hospital is expected to be done by spring, the clinical side by summer. Jamie Welch, healthcare IT director for the rural hospital coalition, said she’s been impressed by the sustained enthusiasm of hospital executives and staff. “I knew it wasn’t that the rural hospitals didn’t want to do this,” she said. “It’s that they couldn’t afford it.” ■ More at HealthcareITnews.com e Connect: LouISIaNa 1207 l e l Connect: HoSPIra 1207 P07-0801B http://www.HealthcareITNews.com http://www.HealthcareITNews.com http://www.HealthcareITNews.com http://www.healthcareitnews.com/story.cms?id=8190 http://www.healthcareitnews.com/story.cms?id=8188 http://www.hospira.com http://www.hospira.com http://www.HealthcareITNews.com http://www.healthcareitnews.com/story.cms?id=8177 http://www.healthcareitnews.com/eConnect.cms?id=8243

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Healthcare IT News - December 2007 Contents Paying Docs Seal of Approval Key to Success Stage 4 Stark Payoff New Kids on the Block Real-time Trend On the Block Picture Perfect Head of the Class

Healthcare IT News - December 2007

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