PODCAST: Decision Support

In this second in a series of Healthcare Informatics Innovator Award podcasts, which are highlighting our recently announced Innovator Award Winners, Managing Editor John DeGaspari interviews Maureen Kahn, R.N., CEO of Blessing Hospital, a 420-bed facility in Quincey, Ill., which tied for third place in this year's Innovator Award program for its advanced clinical decision support system. The HCI Innovator Awards Program recognizes leadership teams from patient care organizations – hospitals, medical groups, health systems and others – that have effectively deployed information technology in order to improve clinical, administrative, financial or organizational performance. This year’s winners will be honored at the upcoming HIMSS conference in Las Vegas.

Blessing Hospital is an outstanding example of tbhe improvements in care quality that can be achieved through advanced clinical decision support, a powerful tool that has allowed the hospital's physicians to focus on critical patient data and act on it in a timely manner. Over a two-year period, Blessing has achieved a 45.5-percent drop in its mortality rate and an 8.9-percent decrease in length of stay, an achievement she gives credit to the hospital's IT team. During the interview, she offers her perspective on the project's genesis, challlenges, and advice for other provider organizations startng down the path of advanced clinical decision support.

Listen below for excerpts from our conversation. For more on Blessing Hospital, check out our more in-depth look, available online and in latest issue of HCI.

To download other HCI Podcasts from iTunes, click here.