http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20100816/NEWS06/8160343/1322/Future-technology-floods-into-hospitals&template=fullarticle
Posted: Aug. 16, 2010 Computers driving the hospital of the future Electronic medical records system cuts errors, coordinates care BY PATRICIA ANSTETT FREE PRESS MEDICAL WRITER Comments (20) Recommend (1) Print E-mail Letter to the editor Share Facebook Twitter FarkIt Digg Del.icio.us Reddit Newsvine Buzz up! The hospital of the future is coming to Michigan. All over the state, hospitals and doctor networks are investing millions in technology, a push also being made by the federal government. Patients at some of the state's largest health systems over the next few years, for example, will have hospital rooms wired into a computer system that lets them see their vital signs, medicines and the name and photograph of the hospital staffer who enters their room. All 191 rooms at Henry Ford West Bloomfield Hospital are now equipped with Smart Room technology. The Detroit Medical Center plans to add it in the next few years on its Harper and Hutzel hospitals' medical and surgical floors. The DMC has already spent $50 million in the last few years to upgrade its electronic medical records system. The systems spot medication errors, alert staffers to patients with drug allergies and send out alerts about the federal drug safety and recall alerts. The federal government will use $2.73 billion in bonuses to entice more health providers to install and upgrade electronic medical record systems -- or face reductions in their Medicare or Medicaid reimbursements by 2015. Medical records system brings peace, accuracy Born 16 weeks early, Saul and Micah Friedman each take more than a half-dozen medicines to help them get stronger and healthier. Fraternal twins, the newborn boys are so tiny that they look quite alike, making them especially vulnerable to getting an incorrect medicine or dose. A $50-million health information technology system at the Detroit Medical Center helps to ensure accuracy. It aligns bar codes on all the boys' medical records to an electronic records system that their doctors, nurses and others use to double-check medicines, coordinate information to their entire care team and alert them to any possible life-threatening event. "It gives me confidence knowing the right things will be done when I'm not here," said the twins' mom, Orit Friedman of Ferndale. "It gives me peace of mind." Dr. Leland Babitch, the DMC's chief medical information officer, said the systems have reduced medication errors by as much as 75%. It's just one of many steps hospitals across the state are taking to improve service to patients. Electronic medical record systems are "a powerful force for reducing errors, lowering costs and increasing doctor/patient satisfaction," Kathleen Sebelius, secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, said last month when she announced new rules for doctor networks and hospitals to add comprehensive electronic medical systems during the next four years. The systems bring all kinds of patient benefits. They won't have to tote records from office to office. Their primary care doctors can find out immediately what happened after a patient was hospitalized or referred to a specialist. Discharge orders and medications are printed up and given to patients when they leave the hospital. "It makes me feel safe," said Uniqua Leak, 19, of Detroit. Before she was discharged in July from Hutzel Women's Hospital with her new son, nurse Chantelle Martin read from printouts of Leak's electronic medical records to review her medicines and upcoming appointments before she let her go home. To improve and coordinate care, save money and eliminate errors in hospitals and doctor offices, the federal government hopes to entice more hospitals to install electronic systems. Bonuses for hospitals Starting in October, and continuing through 2015, hospitals and doctors able to document they have completed multiple steps toward creating a comprehensive electronic system will be eligible for Medicare or Medicare bonuses. Those that don't will see reductions in their Medicaid and Medicare payments, unless they can prove that compliance would cause them a significant financial hardship. Doctors' offices can earn as much as $44,000 in bonuses; hospitals might get bonuses "in the millions," federal regulators say. The new systems help ensure safety as well as address patient concerns. Smart Rooms, for example, wire hospital rooms to computer programs that help familiarize patients with their caregivers by letting them pull up pictures and names of staffers who enter their room. The systems, now in use in every room at Henry Ford West Bloomfield Hospital and expected to be added in the next few years at other Michigan hospitals, including Harper University and Hutzel Women's Hospitals in Detroit, also let patients get details about their medical condition, their daily activities and resources where they can learn more about their health problems. Smart Rooms and equipment also let staffers feed a person's vital signs immediately into a computer, rather than carrying around memo pads and sticky notes to enter information later in a patient's chart. The rooms and intravenous equipment also can be linked to sensors that give off signals if medicines are running low and need to be reordered or if a patient with a risk of falling gets out of bed. But the multimillion-dollar cost of the systems poses significant challenges meeting the new requirements, said Dan Armijo, project director of the Michigan Center for Effective IT Adoption, federally funded project of the Ann Arbor-based Altarum Institute. Some worry the hurdles may be overwhelming, he said. Meeting the challenge Statewide, about 23% of Michigan hospitals have electronic medical record systems in all their units, compared with only 17% nationwide, according to Jim Lee, vice president for data policy and development at the Michigan Health & Hospital Association, which is working with the Michigan center to help hospitals adopt the technology and be eligible for federal incentives. Staffers from the center are spending the summer holding information and training systems for rural hospitals to help them meet the challenge. Some of Michigan's largest systems are much further along and expect to qualify for federal incentive payments next year or in 2012. They include the DMC; the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor; the Novi-based Trinity Health; Spectrum Health, Grand Rapids, and St. John Providence Health, Warren. As helpful as they are, new computer applications can't just be purchased and "dropped in place," the DMC's Babitch said. "It's a constant evolution." The DMC has a team of super-users who meet weekly to tweak and improve the system. Most recently, all patient discharge information -- once a cumbersome paperwork process -- was added to the system, requiring coordination from multiple departments that send patients home with orders and drug prescriptions. Lisa Gulker, director of clinical transformation at Harper University and Hutzel Women's hospitals, said that even curmudgeons who don't like computers come around to accept the systems "once you've got your first near-miss, where the system tells you that you may have the wrong patient, or the wrong dose. The aha moment goes on." "You think, in the old world, you wouldn't have that double-check." Contact PATRICIA ANSTETT: 313-222-5021 or panst...@freepress.com _______________________________________________ Marxism-Thaxis mailing list Marxism-Thaxis@lists.econ.utah.edu To change your options or unsubscribe go to: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/listinfo/marxism-thaxis
