Small
Size, Big Ambitions
Coffeyville Regional Medical Center overcomes limited
resources to become MEDITECH's latest Stage 6 hospital.
Coffeyville
Regional Medical Center (Coffeyville, KS) recently joined an
elite ranking of health care technology leaders improving
patient safety and quality of care, despite modest I.T.
resources. The 148-bed, rural facility recently secured Stage 6
designation from HIMSS Analytics. What's more, Coffeyville has
taken an innovative approach to documenting a core measure,
providing clinical decision support to physicians, and improving
patient safety.
"Even though we have a small I.T. staff, we were able to
achieve this level of Electronic Medical Record (EMR) adoption
in a relatively short amount of time," says Doug Stacy,
Coffeyville's I.S. director. "It is truly a testament to
our entire organization's dedication to information
technology."
When they signed with MEDITECH in 1999, Coffeyville's board of
directors was eager to replace their disparate system with an
integrated health care information system (HCIS), and advanced
clinical applications. "We wanted a system we could grow
with, one that offered robust tools and functionality for our
clinicians," Stacy says. "The MEDITECH HCIS is exactly
what we were looking for—a flexible system that meets our
unique needs as a small, rural facility."
Today, Coffeyville is LIVE with MEDITECH's Advanced Clinicals,
including all Physician Care Manager (PCM) components; in fact,
they went LIVE with Physician Documentation only three months
before achieving Stage 6 status.
Even more impressive, Stacy and his team built a
questionnaire-type template, which provides a unique method of
clinical decision support using MEDITECH's documentation tool.
When documenting care in this template, the provider
automatically assesses and scores a patient's risk of Venous
Thromboembolism (VTE). "Depending on the physician's
responses concerning a patient, a new screen will open that
guides the provider to the appropriate course of
treatment," Stacy explains.
So what's next for this technology-focused hospital? Stacy says
that Coffeyville's ultimate goal is to become completely
paperless within the next couple of years, which would enable
them to reach Stage 7 status. They are also planning to apply
for ARRA funding next summer.
"There are other hospitals that have reached Stage 6, but I
think we are unique because we were able to do it with such a
small staff," says Stacy. "It was our staff's
dedication and team approach that got us to this level of
technology adoption, and will help us get to Stage 7."