Carolinas MC Selects Quality Control
Carolinas Medical Center NorthEast (Concord, N.C.) selected Charlotte, N.C.-based Premier's QualityAdvisor solution to improve delivery of patient care and safely reduce costly avoidable patient events, the company says.
QualityAdvisor, part of Premier's QualityConnect, combines clinically proven analytical methods with a benchmark database of more than 600 facilities to provide timely, actionable information in all levels of a healthcare organization, the company claims. The solution identifies clinical and financial improvement opportunities, understands drivers for variation in practice, and monitors quality of care.
Premier says, along with supporting The Joint Commission OPPE regulatory reporting needs, QualityAdvisor provides analyses on Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality indicators and hospital acquired conditions, and links core measures data to outcomes.
N.J. Hospital Taps EMR Suite
East Orange General Hospital, an acute-care hospital located in Essex County, N.J., is implementing U.K.-based GE Healthcare's Centricity Enterprise in an effort to reduce costs and improve patient care.
In addition to the Centricity EMR, East Orange will also deploy administrative, departmental and revenue cycle solutions throughout its 211-bed facility and outpatient departments. According to the company, the products will be implemented under GE's Digital Day One offering, which includes pre-configured clinical templates for best practices in clinical workflows, it says.
Centricity Enterprise will be delivered remotely from GE's data center under an Applications Service Provider (ASP) model that provides the benefits of a predictable cost for IT while minimizing capital investments and internal resources, the company touts.
The only independent, fully accredited, acute-care hospital in Essex County, East Orange General Hospital provides an array of primary care and specialty services, including same day surgery, physical rehabilitation, behavioral health, family health, emergency medicine, outpatient hemodialysis, hyperbaric/wound management, and vascular and medical/surgical services.
Kona Surgery Picks EHR Software
Kona Surgery Center has selected iProVation MD software from Minneapolis-based Wolters Kluwer Health\for procedure documentation and coding, and its ProVation EHR electronic health record and patient charting solution.
ProVation EHR is an electronic health record designed for ambulatory surgery centers (ASCs). It offers electronic documentation and document imaging for all elements of the patient encounter, from past records to procedure documentation to follow-up care, says the company.
Kona Surgery Center, a partnership between Hawaii Pacific Health and several West Hawaii physicians, started taking patients in late January, after receiving its state license Jan. 21. Kona ASC is a state-of-the-art, 3-suite multi-specialty surgery center focused on gastroenterology, podiatry, general surgery, plastic surgery, orthopedics, dental surgery and ophthalmology.
NJ/NY Veterans Network Goes Paperless
The New York/New Jersey Veterans Healthcare Network (VISN 3) has selected San Diego-based CliniComp's Essentris ED and Essentris Critical Care solutions to improve quality, safety and outcomes at its emergency departments, intensive care and post anesthesia care units, the company says.
VISN 3, one of Washington-based U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs' 21 Veterans Integrated Service Networks, will deploy the solutions at several of its facilities, including the James J. Peters VA Medical Center, Northport VA Medical Center, and East Orange Campus of the VA New Jersey Healthcare System, says CliniComp.
The company claims the suite will replace paper flowsheets in the medical and surgical ICUs, and will interoperate with VistA Computerized Patient Record System and Bar Code Medication Administration. CliniComp's solutions will assist VA clinicians in extracting real-time data and waveforms from physiologic monitors, infusion pumps, ventilators and other bedside devices, and will help create a more complete picture of the patient's condition, it touts.
Somerset Automates Dispensing
Somerset Hospital (Pa.) is implementing Alpharetta, Ga.-based McKesson's PROmanager-Rx system to automate dispensing of tablets, capsules, and other oral solid medications that come in unit-dose, bar-coded form.
According to the company, the system will be utilized to automate dispensing for approximately 80 percent of its daily scheduled patient doses. PROmanager-Rx uses bar-code-driven robotics to scan every dose for safety and accuracy, and enables hospitals to reduce on-site medication repackaging requirements and save pharmacy labor and costs, it touts.
Somerset Hospital is a 150-bed hospital that offers a number of services, including medical oncology, a sleep lab, a dialysis center, a cardiac catheterization laboratory, occupational health, and community education. It is one of the largest employers in Somerset County.
Sound Shore Rolls-Out EHR
Sound Shore Health System (SSHS, New Rochelle, N.Y.) is implementing Atlanta-based Eclipsys Corporation's Sunrise Enterprise suite at both its Sound Shore Medical Center of Westchester and its Mount Vernon Hospital facilities.
According to the company, Sound Shore will deploy a range of clinical, access management and revenue cycle applications, including Eclipsys' CPOE, pharmacy information system, orders reconciliation and e-prescribing solutions. The health system is also rolling out Sunrise Emergency Care and Sunrise Clinical Analytics. The goal of the implementation is to create an integrated electronic record across SSHS's multiple care venues to improve the quality, safety and continuity of patient care, it touts.
In addition to its two hospitals, Sound Shore Health System also includes the Dorothea Hopfer School of Nursing and Schaffer Extended Care Center. The 252-bed Sound Shore Medical Center of Westchester and the 196-bed Mount Vernon Hospital are both teaching affiliates of New York Medical College.
Arkansas BCBS Streamlines Claims
Arkansas Blue Cross and Blue Shield (Little Rock) has implemented Atlanta-based SunGard's iWorks BPM solution to help it gain greater transparency and efficiency throughout its claims management process.
SunGard's iWorks BPM is a business process and electronic content management solution to streamline, standardize and centralize information, and manage high-volume workflows for claims, enrollments and other business processes.
Using iWorks BPM, Arkansas Blue Cross has achieved a common claims desktop tool integrated with multiple systems that helps it monitor business activity and performance and provide added flexibility for employees, says the company.
UC Davis Snags CVIS
Sacramento, Calif.-based UC Davis Medical Center has purchased the Apollo structured reporting, analytic and interoperability solutions for their Heart and Vascular Centers from Lumedx Corp. (Oakland, Calif.).
Prior to these purchases, UC Davis Medical Center used the Apollo clinical data repository solely to support cardiac registry participation.
Lumedx says it is supplying UC Davis Medical Center with the following solutions:
CardioDoc electronic physician structured reporting for the catheterization, peripheral vascular diagnostic (PVD) and peripheral vascular invasive (PVI) laboratories.
Clinical Manager analytics software for cath and electrophysiology (EP) labs.
Integration tools to capture ultrasound measurements.
A suite of interfaces to ensure maximum interoperability between legacy systems, clinical devices and Apollo.
WellStar Chooses Connectivity
WellStar Health System, an integrated network located in Marietta, Ga., is deploying CareAlign Solution from Nashville-based Informatics Corporation of America (ICA), the company says.
According to ICA, the implementation will enable WellStar to connect internal and external healthcare data sources, aggregate data, and convert it into usable information across the continuum of care, while providing actionable information to the physician base through an intuitive portal. The organization will also utilize the solution's analytics capabilities to provide better care and improve overall health, it touts.
WellStar Health System includes five hospitals, five urgent care centers, and has more than 400 employed providers.
Healthcare Informatics 2010 April;27(4):39-40
