Our
Latest Stage 6 Customer: Capital Region Medical Center
(2/24/2010)
Back
in 2005, when Capital Region Medical Center (Jefferson City,
MO) selected MEDITECH's Client/Server system, they had two
long-term goals in mind: improve patient safety and achieve a
fully paperless environment at their 100-bed, rural health
care facility. The hospital's board and administration knew
that with a more efficient electronic process, they could get
where they wanted to be in terms of patient care and
technology. And according to Jason Cecil, project management
professional (PMP) and CIO, the MEDITECH system has helped
Capital Region to do exactly that—as well as secure
Stage 6 EMR recognition from HIMSS Analytics.
"We've long been committed to creating safer systems for
improved patient outcomes," says Cecil. "Over the
years, we've been involved in numerous quality and safety
initiatives, including the Institute for Healthcare
Improvement's 100,000 Lives Campaign (to reduce patient
mortality rates). Reaching Stage 6 reaffirms that we're doing
the right things to achieve our goals and serve patients."
Improving
Patient Outcomes Through Collaboration
Cecil believes that both executive- and physician-level
support have been crucial to their success. "The
encouragement we've gotten from our Administrative Council,
executives, and physicians has been invaluable, and we were
very fortunate to have their commitment from the start,"
he says.
"We knew from past experiences with other software
vendors how important it is for all levels of the
organization to collaborate on patient safety projects,
including I.T. implementation. By working together, and
soliciting physician feedback throughout the duration of the
project, we were able to get everyone on the same page and
secure the buy-in we needed to move forward."
Strong leadership, support, and teamwork got most physicians
on board with going electronic, but Capital Region ultimately
secured organization-wide compliance by setting a firm
printing deadline.
"In order to stop printing and help our organization
move toward a fully paperless environment, we came up with
the 'drop-dead date' strategy," says Cyndi Hake, RN,
clinical analyst at Capital Region Medical Center. "When
there was no incentive for logging into the system, some care
providers would go months at a time without accessing their
patients' information electronically. Instead, they opted for
paper charts. But this strategy changed the way we worked and,
although we experienced some resistance early on, we stood
our ground and our physician adoption rates have been high
ever since."
Having a high rate of physician adoption has certainly helped
Capital Region to reach its patient safety goals more quickly,
says Hake. "All of our OB physicians, pediatricians, and
a percentage of other physicians are now entering orders
electronically," she says. "In order to bring all
physicians LIVE, we are taking the 'one physician at a time'
approach."
Looking
Ahead, Offering Advice
Providers at Capital Region have started noticing major
improvements in care delivery, now that MEDITECH's Advanced
Clinicals are in place. "Because all clinical
documentation is accessible in one place within the
Electronic Medical Record (EMR), our workflows and
interdisciplinary communication are much improved," says
Hake. "MEDITECH's Bedside Verification (BV) solution, in
particular, has proven to be a critical component in helping
us reach our patient safety goals. We are able to close the
loop on medication errors and ensure the 'five rights' for
our patients. Everyone is very pleased with our progress
towards clinical excellence."
To other health care facilities on the path to Stage 6, Cecil
recommends committing to a thoughtful, well-organized
approach. "Today, incentive deadlines are tempting
organizations to rush projects along rather than take their
time and utilize the system to its full potential," he
says. "Changing workflows overnight will have a
detrimental effect—it's really a several-year commitment
of time and resources in order to be successful."
Even though Capital Region has made exceptional strides in
patient safety by reaching Stage 6, Cecil says the hospital
has no plans to rest on its laurels. "It's a wonderful
time to be part of health care and we are extremely proud of
our progress. But we're very aware that many of the criteria
for achieving Stage 6 are similar to those the government
requires for ARRA," he notes. "That being said, we
feel we are now well positioned for stimulus funding, and
have already set our sights on qualifying for Stage 7. It's a
never-ending journey."
MEDITECH
Medical
Information Technology, Inc.
MEDITECH Circle
Westwood, MA 02090
781-821-3000
www.meditech.com