Zynx Health, the market leader in providing evidence-based and experience-based clinical decision support solutions, today announced the successful implementation of ZynxCare at the MeritCare Health System in Fargo, ND. This deployment of current, customized, evidence-based care plans at the point of care will arm MeritCare clinicians and support improvements in patient care. As a result, nurses will be able to spend more time with patients and less time on the charting required of them in creating paper records. In addition, applying clinical decision support at the point of care lays the foundation for demonstrating “meaningful use” of technology in the future, as outlined for obtaining federal stimulus funds established in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA).
MeritCare began working with Zynx Health to incorporate their ZynxCare solution in March of 2008. MeritCare teams, supported by Zynx, worked rigorously and in record time to customize ZynxCare evidence-based templates to include local practice standards, gain clinical consensus on the standardized plans of care across its integrated healthcare system and release them for use across the MeritCare system. They were able to incorporate 161 interactive care plans for their launch in October 2009. “I personally have been impressed with the service and attention I have received from my Zynx Health project manager, content development manager and the IT client support team,” said Tricia Erstad, clinical informatics systems analyst and Zynx Plan of Care project manager at MeritCare.
The interactive PDF plans contain hyperlinks to evidence summaries and local protocols and are currently available to MeritCare clinicians on their intranet. These electronic plans of care will serve as a bridge, allowing clinicians to become accustomed to the electronic format while MeritCare prepares to roll out their EHR in March 2011. MeritCare will also use their ZynxCare solution to help streamline the process of updating their care plans with the latest peer-reviewed research. The plans of care are updated as major evidence changes occur, and a full review of the plans will take place on a yearly basis.
