MEDITECH Customer Achievement: MEDITECH, AHRQ Grant Assist Morgan Hospital in Becoming First Small Community Hospital in IHIE

MEDITECH, AHRQ Grant Assist Morgan Hospital in Becoming First Small Community Hospital in IHIE
(8/13/2008)

Whenever Morgan Hospital and Medical Center's (MHMC) care teams see an inpatient for the first time, they have all the data they need to prepare for the next step in care delivery, thanks to a $1.5 million dollar matching government grant offered through the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ). The Martinsville, Indiana, site put these funds to good use by investing in MEDITECH's integrated Health Care Information System (HCIS), as well as a clinical messaging application from the Indiana Health Information Exchange (IHIE) and a clinical repository service through Regenstrief Institute. Together, these software products now enable MHMC to share lab results, reports, and other patient information with physician practices throughout Greater Indianapolis.

"MHMC is the first small, independent hospital in Indiana to collaborate with the IHIE," says John Smith, director of information systems at MHMC. "Partnering with MEDITECH and the IHIE enables MHMC to dramatically improve the quality of care delivered to our patients throughout the continuum."

MEDITECH Replaces Disparate HCIS, Enhances Quality of Patient Care
Recognized as one of the nation's leading Health Information Exchange models, the IHIE provides two services which connect care providers throughout the state: Indiana Network for Patient Care (INPC)—a secure warehouse of patient data, and the DOCS4DOCSŽ application, which is an HL7-formatted clinical messaging service. Developed in conjunction with Regenstrief Institute, INPC and the DOCS4DOCS system enable secure data sharing among a wide spectrum of care providers. Although MHMC initially applied for the AHRQ grant to participate in the IHIE, the grant writing process sparked the hospital to take a close look at their own collection of disparate systems.

"Prior to connecting to the IHIE, we quickly realized we needed an integrated HCIS. If our own systems could not talk to one another, how would we be able to effectively push data to the IHIE?" says Smith. "We looked for a new HCIS vendor, and MEDITECH came out as our strongest suitor in both enabling us to meet our interoperability goals, and offering a sophisticated and integrated system to facilitate seamless communication among all our departments."

Debbie Aders, chief quality officer at MHMC, cites one key example of how MEDITECH's integrated HCIS caught the attention of the facility's leaders—namely, the system's ability to establish numerous check points throughout medication administration. "We realized our care providers could proactively eliminate medication errors by using MEDITECH's Bedside Verification (BV) and electronic Medication Administration Record (eMAR) solutions," she says. "Through these established check points, we now have an I.T. system designed to systematically eliminate medication errors which might have been overlooked."

DOCS4DOCS Service Facilitates Results Delivery
According to the IHIE, approximately 39 hospitals and 8,500 physician practices across Indiana subscribe to the DOCS4DOCS service for secure data sharing among care providers. Located in a neighboring county, MHMC frequently sends patients to specialists and tertiary care centers in Indianapolis, and knew participating in this information exchange would significantly improve care quality. Sharing the data, however, proved to be a challenge, so MEDITECH was more than willing to step in and help MHMC set up the HL7 data mapping.

"Leading up to our go-LIVE with the IHIE, weekly conference calls helped us make sure everyone was on the same page with formatting the HL7 messages, so they would be accepted by the DOCS4DOCS application," says Smith. "We were very happy with how flexible the staff at MEDITECH was in making changes, to ensure the interface to the IHIE followed the DOCS4DOCS clinical messaging protocols."

As a result, the physicians now receive all their patients' clinical results from other DOCS4DOCS participants, right in their own offices. Providers benefit from the single delivery method, which enables them to view all patient results in one consolidated location. "Now, our patients and physicians can discuss test results collected at a specialist's practice, for example," says Smith. "With all the progress notes and test results available in our MEDITECH system, it is as if our physician had direct communication with the specialist. Patients at MHMC have the luxury of asking our physicians, 'What exactly does this lab result mean,' or 'What did the doctor mean by xyz.' It takes a lot of uncertainty out of the care process."

INPC Connects Care Providers
MHMC patients are also reaping the benefits from information sharing among local care providers, as well as Indianapolis's larger specialty hospitals and surgical centers through their connection to the Indiana Network for Patient Care (INPC). "We are a small community hospital, so there are times we need to send our patients to Indianapolis to receive specialty treatment which might not be available at MHMC. Having our patients' medical histories follow them to these larger hospitals ensures the most accurate information is being presented to the specialists," says Aders.

Patient information documented at the larger hospitals also comes back to MHMC, including notes, lab results, and medications ordered. "The ability to share patient data throughout the care continuum is huge, especially in terms of disease management," says Aders.

Also impressive is the timeliness with which physicians receive the shared patient data. "Our physicians praise how quickly they can attain a patient's medical history. As soon as a patient is admitted into the ER, access to the clinical repository is authorized, allowing the physician to log-in and access the patient's medical information—including test results, medication history, and prior office visits—from all INPC member organizations. With over 20,000 patients coming through the ER on a yearly basis, you can imagine how much more time our physicians have to devote to patient care," says Aders.

Next Steps: Data Sharing on Regional and National Levels
With so many benefits to data sharing, it's no surprise to Smith that the number of health care providers participating in the IHIE is rapidly expanding, with physician practices and hospitals all over Indiana joining the network on a daily basis. And as the IHIE continues to grow, its clinical messaging and repository capabilities have also caught the attention of hospitals and care providers in neighboring states.

"Several other regions have approached the IHIE for advice on establishing a successful health information exchange network which could one day share data throughout the Midwest," says Smith. "It will be exciting to see how things develop in the months ahead, and how many health care organizations follow our lead."

About Morgan Hospital and Medical Center
With over 70 years of experience delivering quality patient care to the communities of central Indiana, MHMC is recognized for its clinical excellence, state-of-the-art technology and facilities, and customer-focused care. The organization is licensed for 106 beds and is truly a community, public, non-profit hospital and medical center committed to providing the highest quality of patient care. It employs over 20 physicians, who work collaboratively to ensure the patient safety standards (as established by MHMC's core mission and values) are followed.

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