Ambitious
Patient Care Initiative Leads Hays Medical Center to Stage 6
(1/13/2010)
Thrilled to have achieved Stage 6
Electronic Medical Record adoption recognition from HIMSS
Analytics, the folks at Hays Medical Center (Hays, KS)
maintain they never actually "set out" to become a
Stage 6 recipient. Rather, when the rural 203-bed health care
facility became a MEDITECH customer back in 2003, it embarked
on an ongoing journey to ensure quality patient care, and in
the process, qualified for the prestigious recognition.
"Receiving Stage 6 Electronic Medical Record adoption
recognition from HIMSS Analytics is truly a testament to the
hard work of everyone involved at our organization,"
says Bill Overbey, CIO and CFO at Hays Medical Center. "Our
dedicated physicians, strong administrative leadership, and
reliable MEDITECH solutions have allowed us to successfully
reach our patient care goals, as well as industry accolades
we never anticipated."
Creating
Quality Care with the Right Support and Leadership
According to Overbey, care quality has always been the
primary driver for all of Hays' hospital-wide initiatives.
"We implemented MEDITECH seven years ago, because we
knew that better information leads to better care for
patients," he says. "Furthermore, we wanted to make
the documentation process easier for physicians, and we saw
MEDITECH's integrated products as the best way to do that."
With the right amount of administrative support and the
commitment of CEO John Jeter, MD, Overbey knew Hays could
attain an even higher level of electronic medical record
adoption going forward. "In order to successfully
achieve Stage 6, it is essential to have executives and
physicians work together," says Overbey. "Dr. Jeter
has been our MEDITECH physician champion for years. He and
the rest of our administrative leaders have consistently
supported our patient safety and electronic
initiatives—which is a big part of why we continue to
move ahead and be successful."
Besides dedicated leadership, MEDITECH's integrated system
has helped Hays to reach Stage 6 by providing an additional
level of quality care and enhanced patient safety. "By
moving to an electronic integrated system, we've been able to
make key improvements in care delivery, operational
efficiency, and diagnostic reporting, while still reducing
our medication errors," says Scott Rohleder, I.T.
director at Hays Medical Center. "We've also been able
to expand our service line offerings and consult with
specialties outside our immediate area. Many of our newer
physicians actually prefer to dictate through an electronic
system, so it's really been a win-win on many levels."
Relying on
MEDITECH's Integrated Solutions to Administer Better Care
With MEDITECH's solutions, clinicians at Hays are finding the
patient information they need, at their convenience. "Since
our physicians can access the Electronic Medical Record (EMR)
remotely and review a patient's chart anytime or anywhere,
they can make clinical decisions more quickly and plan
accordingly," says Rohleder. "Physicians are no
longer required to rely on nurses to get information for a
patient; they can immediately see x-ray and radiology report
results through the system."
Furthermore, since Hays has physician and ambulatory clinics
outside the main health care facility, the organization has
been using the Medical and Practice Management (MPM) solution
to keep all locations connected. "MPM has given our
providers seamless access to patient data in the EMR,"
says Rohleder. "All pertinent clinical data, whether it
be from the inpatient environment or the outside world, is in
one centralized area for easy access and viewing."
Rohleder believes that Hays is well on its way to achieving a
fully paperless environment. And while HIMSS Analytics has
stated that many hospitals striving to achieve Stage 6 get
stuck at Stage 5 (the closed loop medication process), Hays
has been able to overcome this hurdle with the help of
information technologies.
"MEDITECH's Bedside Medication Verification (BMV)
solution is what helped us get from Stage 5 to Stage 6,"
he says. "During the medication administration process,
our nurses use BMV to confirm patient identity and medication
information against data readily available via the electronic
Medication Administration Record (eMAR), thereby ensuring
patient safety."
Rohleder notes that nurses at Hays rely heavily on the BMV
and eMAR solutions to help prevent medication errors and
safely administer the five rights to each patient. However,
he explains this was not always the case, as some nurses were
skeptical of the solution early on.
"A short time after we first went LIVE with the BMV
solution in our ICU, some nurses thought the system was
scanning incorrectly and providing faulty alerts and warnings
on certain medications because they seemed to be averting
more errors than expected," says Rohleder. "After
we checked into the issue, it turned out the system was
indeed scanning correctly and minimizing potential adverse
reactions and risks to our patients. After that, our nurses
became firm believers in BMV."
Finally, to tie all MEDITECH and third party information
together for reporting, the folks at Hays have been relying
on MEDITECH's integrated Data Repository (DR) solution. Hays
has made great strides with reporting across the care setting, and is using DR to
support clinical and financial guidance.
"By using DR, we've been able to use reports to enhance
our patient care and make data-driven decisions in real time,"
says Rohleder. "I think it's safe to say we qualified
for Stage 6 because of DR, and what it continues to give our
organization in terms of quality measuring and reporting."
Taking
Patient Care to the Next Level
As part of their upcoming efforts, Hays has a few more I.T.
projects and other initiatives in the works. "We plan to
complete our MEDITECH Oncology early adopter implementation,
roll out template-driven documentation in our physician
offices, and implement MEDITECH's Scanning and Archiving
solution very soon," says Overbey. "As part of our
effort to get rid of information silos, we are also
implementing Cardiac PACS."
The staff at Hays are certainly proud of what they've
achieved, but of course, improvement is an ongoing process.
"Enhancing the quality of patient care will always
remain a priority for our organization," Overbey says.
"We are thrilled with our progress and the recognition
we've received. But we're always looking ahead, to plan how
we can take our care to the next level. I expect MEDITECH
will continue to play an important role as we evolve further."
MEDITECH
Medical
Information Technology, Inc.
MEDITECH Circle
Westwood, MA 02090
781-821-3000
www.meditech.com