News & Information for the MEDITECH Community
Volume 3 - Issue 2 - March 2008

The MEDITECH Community Bulletin is a periodic newsletter covering a broad range of topics that are relevant to the MEDITECH community.  In addition, this newsletter provides a forum for guest contributors including consultants and, of course, MEDITECH customers. The MEDITECH Community Bulletin is published and distributed free of charge to you by Systems Personnel, a professional search firm specializing in the Healthcare IT and Management market.  Visit us online at www.CarrollSearch.com.

If this is the first time you're reading the The MEDITECH Community Bulletin, consider it a warm smile and a handshake as we introduce our newsletter to your company.  If you're a long-time recipient, we hope that you'll find this issue of the The MEDITECH Community Bulletin just as useful as always.

Thanks for your continued ideas, contributions, and feedback!

Regards,
Donna Carroll

QUICK LINKS:  

Industry Spotlight  |  Tricks of the Trade  |  Featured Employer

Recent News  |  Worth a Read  |  Contact Info

Industry Spotlight:  Nine Validated Stage 6 Hospitals Recognized at HIMSS08

Reprinted from:  Countdown to HIMSS08

Editor's Note:  Two of these nine facilities were MEDITECH customers.  I've highlighted information related to the two MEDITECH hospitals with red text.

ORLANDO, Fla. — The pin reads “HIMSS Analytics Stage 6 Hospital EMR Adoption Model.”  Not many attendees will have them, so if you see someone wearing the rectangular pin, congratulate them on a major achievement.

A “Stage 6 Hospital” designation means that organization has implemented healthcare IT to support higher levels of automated patient care delivery.

HIMSS Analytics developed an Electronic Medical Record Adoption Model (EMRAM), which evaluates the progress and impact of EMR systems in acute-care delivery environments.  The methodology was outlined in a white paper, “Stage 6 Hospitals: The Journey and the Accomplishments,” by author Mike Davis, executive vice president of HIMSS Analytics.

To date, nine hospitals have attained Stage 6 status.

Davis noted that these hospitals have positioned themselves – by virtue of their IT capabilities – to be at the forefront of near-future “industry transformations.”

For now, however, Stage 6 hospitals are reaping such benefits as reductions in medication errors, nursing overtime, length of stay, billing, coding, claims and denial, to name a few.

According to the white paper, one institution’s CFO reported to its board a savings of between $7 million to $10 million annually – exceeding the cost of IT to support the EMR.  “This is a significant financial statement for investing in EMRs,” Davis said, although he emphasized that the path to Stage 6 was arduous.

Such was the case for St. Agnes Hospital in Baltimore, which spent eight years implementing integrated clinical systems.  While the ROI is certainly required after such a journey, the vision for all the hospitals is patient-centered.  “This designation is consistent with St Agnes’ Information Services vision of providing accurate and reliable clinical information to enhance the delivery of quality patient care,” said William Greskovich, vice president of operations and CIO of St. Agnes.

“The Stage 6 study is vitally important research,” said Richard Schaeffer, CIO of St. Clair Citizens Memorial Hospital in Pittsburgh.  “For the broad healthcare market, it validates the correlation between EMR progress and the quality of care.  For St. Clair Hospital, it demonstrates our ability to be just as high tech as we are high touch, and confirms that our approach to technology is delivering improved outcomes to our patients.”

Todd Cipriani, vice president of professional and support services for Newport Hospital in Rhode Island, noted that improved communication and flow of information throughout the organization from its healthcare IT systems helped the hospital work toward its most important strategic objectives - patient safety, quality of care and costs.

Evanston Northwestern Healthcare in Illinois - with 858 licensed beds - is the largest system to receive the recognition.  What made it successful from the beginning was support throughout the organization.  “Receiving the Stage 6 designation validates our Administration’s and Professional Staff’s plans for clinical IT systems and it gives recognition to our staff that has worked hard to install and use our systems,” said CIO Thomas Smith.

Citizens Memorial Healthcare in Bolivar, Mo., is the smallest system with 74 beds, making its achievement particularly significant.  “Size doesn’t need to be a factor,” said Amy Bergau, marketing manager for HIMSS Analytics.  “The Stage 6 hospitals range in size from a 74-bed hospital to an 858-bed healthcare system, demonstrating that any size hospital can achieve this level of technology sophistication.”

“When we began our quest for one EMR that is comprehensive and crosses the continuum of care, we thought we were catching up with other hospitals,” said Denni McColm, CIO of Citizens Memorial Healthcare.  “Based on the HIMSS results, we seem to have leapt ahead of, well, most hospitals.  The benefits of a patient-centered EMR that is fully functional and crosses care settings are tremendous.”

Back in 2003, Midland Memorial Hospital in Texas put forth a vision to implement a “full-blown” EMR system, according to David Whiles, director of information systems.  “It was an opportune moment to embrace the vision and move toward the federal government’s goal of patient care and patient safety.  It’s the right thing to do.”

By February 2007, Midland Memorial brought to bear almost all of Stage 6’s conditions.  The historically quick implementation of the vision was a result of buy-in from the bottom up and support from the top-down.  “The board and executive staff were fundamentally devoted to the project and dedicated to making it a success,” he said.  “We are fully paperless.”

As hospitals across the country implement health IT systems, MColm said, “We hope that Stage 6 becomes the norm throughout the country within the next few years.”

But where do these nine hospitals go from here?  The next level, of course.  Stage 7 will one day recognize the paperless EMR hospital, which has the ability to exchange health information with all entities within a regional healthcare network.

Stay tuned.  Meanwhile, while at HIMSS08, network with the elite few.

The nine Stage 6 hospitals:

• Midland Memorial Hospital, Midland, Tex.

• Citizens Memorial Healthcare, Bolivar, Mo.

• St. Agnes Hospital, Baltimore, Md.

• Our Lady of the Lake Regional Medical Center, Baton Rouge, La.

• Newport Hospital, Newport, R.I.

• Clarian North Medical Center, Carmel, Ind.

• St. Clair Hospital, Pittsburgh, Pa.

• Evanston Northwestern Healthcare, Evanston, Ill.

• Memorial Health University Medical Center, Savannah, Ga.

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Tricks of the Trade:  NPR Report Writing Doesn’t Have to be a Resource Intense Process

Contributed by:  John Sharpe, President, Comstock Software, Inc.

If your healthcare organization is like most, even the simplest of NPR reports include graphics.  A report writer can consume a lot of paper (and toner) printing to the printer, during the development and testing of a report.  Graphs, bar codes, labels, font formats and layout all require print intensive testing.

At times, I find myself using up to 100 pieces of paper in developing a single form or graphic overlay.  After awhile all that paper and time retrieving reports from the printer can add up!

Interbit Data has a solution: NetDelivery.  NetDelivery allows you to securely distribute reports from your organization's information system via fax, encrypted print stream, encrypted file or email.  NetDelivery is integrated with the MEDITECH faxing functions, but allows you to define (by user/location) whether to send the data as a fax, a file, an email, or a print out.  Remote locations can have virtual printers via the Internet, which on demand, on schedule, or in real-time, retrieve data from your system.  All connections are validated and all data passing through the Internet is encrypted using 128-bit encryption algorithms.

I use NetDelivery to convert the Meditech Print Stream into a PDF which lands in a Windows Folder.  This allows me to see the way the report would look if it was printed to a physical printer.  This benefits me in 2 ways:

1. Working off-site, I can see the NPR Report just as it will print on my client’s printer.

2. Working on-site, I can work uninterrupted at my workstation, without getting distracted on the way to the printer across the room or down the hall.

My favorite feature is the ability to automatically convert the print stream to a document format of your choice; PDF, TIF & TXT being the formats I use the most.

If your site is currently using NetDelivery, having your NPR Report Writers print to PDF instead of paper just makes sense (and saves cents).  As an NPR Consultant, I think each NPR Programmer should have their own Meditech Printer - NetDelivery Folder.  I have found this software to be straightforward to install, setup and use.  If you are interested in learning more about this product, you can contact Interbit Data at:

Interbit Data, Inc.
Web:  www.interbitdata.com
Phone:  508-647-0013
Email:  info@interbitdata.com

John Sharpe is President / NPR Consultant at Comstock Software, Inc.  John hosts the ‘Meditech NPR Report Writing’ blog at http://comstock-software.com/blogs/npr/ where you can learn and read more about NPR Report Writing.

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Featured Employer:  FREE Job Advertising

Every month, we feature one employer and allow them to advertise their job posting in our newsletter FREE of CHARGE.  In addition to the basic job posting, we will provide some general information about the employer and their environment.  The featured employer will also have their job advertised on our MeditechCareers.com web site.

If you're interested in getting your job advertised for FREE, simply email us the job description, along with your full contact information, and we'll contact you for additional details.

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Current Featured Employers on MeditechCareers.com

Please visit MeditechCareers.com to view all of our Featured Employers.
Current opportunities exist with the following organizations.

POSITION:	EMPLOYER:	LOCATION:
Application Analysts	Alice Peck Day Memorial Hospital	Lebanon, New Hampshire
Business Development Consultant	DrFirst	Rockville, Maryland
Application Engineer	HCA Healthcare	Nashville, Tennessee
PACS Administrator	Hermitage Medical Clinic	Dublin, Ireland
MEDITECH Contract Opportunities	Systems Personnel	Various U.S. Locations

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Recent News:  MEDITECH Launches a New Era with Client/Server 6.0 Release

January 24, 2008 -- MEDITECH will launch a new chapter in its history in 2008 with the introduction of the Client/Server 6.0 Release to new accounts.  Featuring a new user interface with improved workflow design and new technology infrastructure, Client/Server Release 6.0 represents a new generation of health care technology for MEDITECH customers.

The introduction of C/S 6.0 gives MEDITECH an opportunity to advance its applications, providing users with a new, more appealing user interface; better navigation with consistent conventions across applications; optimal performance via remote access; increased security over public and private networks; faster, easier data conversions and recovery from system failures; and a platform for future operating system independence.

Several factors in the changing health care landscape have influenced MEDITECH's creation of C/S 6.0.  Most important has been the critical role information systems now play supporting physicians and nurses in directing care for a wide range of patients.  MEDITECH's 6.0 design is based on streamlining workflows, providing secure access over the Internet, scaling to a wide range of patient populations and venues, preventing data corruption, and eliminating data downtime.

More info:  http://www.meditech.com/aboutmeditech/pages/newslaunch60.htm

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Recent News:  Eighteen MEDITECH Customers Among HealthGrades' 50 Best Hospitals

February 25, 2008 -- HealthGrades, the nation’s leading independent healthcare ratings organization, today identified America’s 50 Best Hospitals, an elite class of top-performing facilities.  The HealthGrades America’s 50 Best Hospital designation represents the healthcare industry’s only quality ranking based solely on objective clinical outcomes among U.S. hospitals.

Of the 50 hospitals to make HealthGrades' Best list are 18 MEDITECH facilties.  Congratulations to the following MEDITECH hospitals:

• Alexian Brothers Medical Center (Elk Grove, IL)

• Centura Health - Penrose St. Francis Health Services (Colorado Springs, CO)

• CJW Medical Center - Chippenham Campus (Richmond, VA)

• Cleveland Clinic - Children's (Cleveland, OH)

• Community Hospital Anderson (Munster, IN)

• Deaconess Hospital (Cincinnati, OH)

• Glendale Memorial Hospital and Health Center (Glendale, CA)

• Good Samaritan Hospital (Los Angeles, CA)

• Henrico Doctor's Hospital (Richmond, VA)

• Henrico Doctor's Hospital Parham (Richmond, VA)

• Holy Cross Hospital (Fort Lauderdale, FL)

• Jewish Hospital St. Mary's (Louisville, KY)

• Lawnwood Regional Medical Center and Heart Institute (Fort Pierce, FL)

• Memorial Healthcare System (Chatanooga, TN)

• Ocala Regional Medical Center (Ocala, FL)

• Rio Grande Regional Hospital (McAllen, TX)

• Sarasota Memorial Hospital (Sarasota, FL)

• St. John's Hospital Health Center (Santa Monica, CA)

More info:  http://www.healthgrades.com/media/dms/pdf/A50BestRelease2008.pdf

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Worth a Read:  Articles of Interest to the Healthcare IT Field

Researching Integration
By:  Mark Hagland
HealthCare Informatics, March, 2008

The push to develop new strategies that utilize information technology to support clinical research in the competition for lucrative research dollars is on.
Read article

Ante Up
By:  Anthony Guerra
HealthCare Informatics, February, 2007

An in-depth look at how Partners Healthcare in Boston led the way in the battle to get physician offices in their network to implement an EMR.
Read article

Facilitating Physicians
By:  Daphne Lawrence
HealthCare Informatics, February, 2007

Satisfying admitting physicians means offering them remote access to patient information, at all times and in all places.  This article discusses important points to consider in the IT transition to physician mobility.
Read article

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