Washington-based Leapfrog Group says there is stark contrast in the degree to which CPOE systems have been clinically adopted and are actually preventing errors and saving lives.
This finding is from Leapfrog’s first evaluation of CPOE with an Evaluation Tool developed as a complement to its national Hospital Survey. Leapfrog is issuing a warning to hospitals that installation of CPOE is just the beginning of an iterative adoption process, a commitment hospitals may not be aware of when purchasing systems.
Developed by Computer Sciences Corporation (Falls Church, Va.) and the Institute for Safe Medication Practices (Horsham, Pa.), Leapfrog says its tool provides hospitals with an assessment of the adequacy CPOE system alerts for common, serious prescribing errors.
Individual hospital score results will not be publicly released by Leapfrog for the 2008 survey.
