The Certification Commission for Healthcare Information Technology (CCHIT) will seek qualified candidates to serve as Commissioners for a two-year term beginning in October. The call for candidates opens in July. A joint Nominating Committee made up of internal and external members appointed by the Commission will submit nominations for selection at the September meeting. Interested candidates will be able to submit their resumes online at www.cchit.org beginning July 25.
CCHIT is governed by a 19-member Board of Commissioners from a broad array of stakeholders. The Commission oversees the work of CCHIT's professional staff and voluntary work groups. The roles of the Commissioners are to represent all stakeholders, provide strategic direction, ensure objectivity and credibility, provide guidance to and review the reports of the work groups, and approve the final certification criteria and processes.
The Commission is made up of at least two representatives each from the provider, payer, and vendor stakeholder groups, and at least one from seven other stakeholder groups, including safety net providers, health care consumers, public health agencies, quality improvement organizations, clinical researchers, standards development and informatics experts and government agencies. The Commissioners serve staggered two-year terms.
Phase II of the Commission's work has now begun, which includes updating the ambulatory electronic health record (EHR) criteria and the development of inpatient EHR certification criteria. A first draft of this work will be published the week of July 17, followed by a 30-day public comment period. A Town Call to discuss the material and explain how to submit comments will take place on Monday, July 24, at 1 p.m. Eastern. Presentation and dial-in numbers will be available online at www.cchit.org.
A separate Town Call for physicians who are interested in learning more about certified EHRs and the certification process will take place on Monday, July 24, at 4 p.m. Eastern. Presentation and dial-in numbers will be available online at www.cchit.org.
Brigham & Women's Hospital
Extends Radianse Equipment
Tracking Hospital-Wide
Brigham & Women's Hospital (BWH), Boston, has paved the way for a fast, direct route from any of its 747 beds to the portable medical equipment critical to effective care. Real-time location of infusion pumps, portable monitors, defibrillators or other tracked devices will be as close as the nearest web browser across all major care areas on 17 hospital floors — including perioperative and emergency departments.
It's a move BWH knows will payback immediately in nurse and patient satisfaction — and in months financially. The hospital's confidence in investing to track 6,000 medical devices hospital-wide is based on strong results from its pilot of a Radianse indoor positioning solution (IPS).
Led by Michael Fraai, BWH director of biomedical engineering, the pilot tracked several hundred valuable devices including external pacers, telemetry transmitters and 12-lead cables. There were early clues of improved staff satisfaction. Then analysis showed a 50 percent reduction in losses of the pilot's tracked equipment. Ultimately, the hospital documented a return on investment in just over a year; details are expected to be published by Fraai later this year.
By extending equipment tracking hospital-wide, the hospital anticipates equally strong payback. "We first investigated indoor positioning to address dissatisfaction rates. Surgeons were waiting for essential equipment to be found before procedures could begin. Nurses were typically charged with hunting and gathering, which took them away from direct patient care. And we wanted to intervene before patient wait times became too long," said Fraai.
Sue Schade, chief information officer at BWH, added, "There are lots of important problems to solve in healthcare and budgets are not unlimited. The work that Michael and his team did around technology evaluation and ROI analysis bumped this from a 'nice to have' to a 'must do' project."
"When we started looking at this approach, it was very new. We couldn't just jump in. We had to be responsible and validate the payback of a real-time IPS," said Fraai. "We needed a technology that would not interfere with other wireless systems and, assuming positive results, one that would not be difficult to expand," Fraai added.
Radianse uses active radio frequency identification (active-RFID) and a patented location algorithm to track people and things; receivers connect to the hospital's existing network. Simple, web-based "find" applications display results in a list or graphical view.
"Brigham, and Michael in particular, has been a valuable collaborator with Radianse almost from the start," said Mike Dempsey, chief technology officer. "The hospital team really did its homework to prove that this is an investment worth making. We appreciate their thoughtful approach. Many times their insights have helped us improve our applications, and certainly have helped other hospitals as they evaluate various technologies."
A Radianse IPS was originally installed at BWH to cover nine cardiac care units, six cardiac operating rooms and the connecting common areas, and the portals of the Radiology, Cath Lab and post-anesthesia care units. The expanded Radianse system will provide real-time equipment tracking across all Med/Surg units, intensive care units, ORs and perioperative spaces, the emergency department and hospital common areas. BWH has selected room level coverage for the patient areas and zone level coverage for its common areas.
The completed installation will mean that any authorized staff member can use the Radianse web application to see the room or 'zone' where a type or a specific piece of equipment is located and whether or not it's in use. BWH also plans to take advantage of Radianse alerts and analysis to better understand and manage how medical equipment and devices flow with patients and through procedures.
Argentum Medical and Rajat PharmaChem Sign MOU
Argentum Medical LLC, Stuart, Florida, manufacturers and distributes advanced antimicrobial silver wound, surgical and burn care bandages. Rajat PharmaChem Ltd. of Mumbai, India, is a $200 million pharmaceutical supplier. Argentum currently markets its unique silver plated textile technology, developed by Orthopedic Surgeons Bart Flick, MD, and Robert Becker, MD, over the past 30 years. Dr. Flick and Dr. Becker's research and clinical studies, helped pave the way for the introduction of topical silver bandages into the medical arena over the past eight years. The broad spectrum antimicrobial activity of silver has achieved professional recognition in the acute and chronic wound care markets. Silverlon-based technology has been selected by the U.S. Army as the treatment of choice for burns and open wounds suffered by US Army personnel injured in Iraq and Afghanistan. Special Forces currently carry Silverlon with them in the field for emergency treatment.
The fast growing Rajat PharmaChem Ltd. is rapidly expanding into world pharmaceutical markets. They offer branded and generic pharmaceutical formulations with or without WHO-GMP/ ISO 9000 quality specifications. Products include the full pharmaceutical range in tablets, capsules, soft gelatin capsules, food supplements, liquid orals, injectables and ointments. Mr. K. Arya, Rajat's Managing Director, said "With our firm commitment to providing 'World Class' pharmaceutical products of the highest quality we are firmly establishing Rajat's position in the international pharmaceutical market. Rajat is recognized as a 'One Star Export House' by the Ministry of Commerce, Govt. of India. The synergy of our deal with Argentum will open new avenues in the global market to compliment and serve both market and mankind."
Argentum's CEO, Scott Ty Cobb, put the deal with Rajat together as part of his strategy to take Silverlon products into the world marketplace. Mr. Cobb says "The
creation of a partnership with a strong company like Rajat will enable Argentum Medical to bring its wound and burn healing expertise to the Asian market as rapidly as possible.
The rise in multi drug resistant microbes (bacteria and fungi) has generated a significant market demand for Silverlon. Silverlon has demonstrated in the laboratory, clinic and hospital setting, significant antimicrobial activity against all of the major drug resistant bacterial species, including Methacillin Resistant Staphlococcus Aureus (MRSA), Pseudomonas Aeruginosa and Vancomycin Resistant Enterococcus Fecalis (VRE). Argentum Medical is committed to assisting in the relief of suffering and we believe that Silverlon is a very powerful tool toward that end."
Edward Hospital And Health Services Chooses InnerWireless
InnerWireless, Inc., a leading provider of in-building wireless systems, has announced that Edward Hospital and Health Services will install InnerWireless' Medical-grade Wireless Utility into four of its facilities throughout Illinois, including the system's main campus, Edward Hospital. InnerWireless' Medical-grade Wireless Utility guarantees wireless coverage throughout a facility to support the use of multiple applications and devices such as pagers, two-way radios, wireless patient monitoring, WiFi, VoIP and cellular phones.
It was critical to Edward Hospital and Health Services that the wireless infrastructure chosen meet two criteria: accommodate physician demands for cellular service throughout the hospital and enable wireless devices for both clinicians and the patients. InnerWireless' Medical-grade Wireless Utility met both requirements, while simultaneously providing a cost-effective and future-ready system that would allow the hospital to deploy new technologies as they become available. Edward Hospital and Health Systems also will use InnerWireless to distribute data via 802.11a/b/g standards. With InnerWireless, uniform and maximum coverage is feasible because the Medical-grade Wireless Utility is engineered to evenly distribute a wide range of radio frequency signals, eliminating holes in coverage and competition or conflicts between devices.
"InnerWireless was the most logical next step to improving our facilities so we could enhance the patient-care experience," said Laura Bagus, Director of Infrastructure at Edward Hospital and Health Services. "The Medical-Grade Wireless Utility is compatible with our Cisco Systems network, so InnerWireless' solution guarantees that data can be sent and received anywhere in each facility, which is critical to healthcare organizations. InnerWireless helps increase communication and that helps us further enhance patient care."
Located in the heart of Naperville, Ill., on a 50-acre campus, Edward Hospital is Edward Hospital and Health Services' largest facility with a 236-bed capacity. Founded in the early 20th century, Edward Hospital and Health Services continues to bring the best healthcare to Chicago's western suburbs and is working to enhance that care by adding new technologies to its facilities. In addition to Edward Hospital, InnerWireless' Medical-grade Wireless Utility will also be deployed in Edward Hospital and Health Services' Heart Hospital, Linden Oaks Hospital and the Plainfield Healthcare Center.
Edward Hospital and Health Services joins a distinguished group of leading hospitals and health systems — including Vassar Brothers Medical Center, Children's Memorial Hospital of Chicago, The University of Chicago Hospitals and Health System's Bernard A. Mitchell Hospital and Comer Children's Hospital, and the National Institutes of Health's Mark O. Hatfield Clinical Research Center — in using InnerWireless to create a 21st century wireless ecosystem in their facilities.
JCR Appoints Executive Director
of Education
Joint Commission Resources (JCR) announces the appointment of Pamela Steinbach, R.N., M.S.N., as executive director of Education. JCR is a not-for-profit affiliate of the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations. Steinbach will oversee the development and marketing of training materials, conferences, public policy symposia, seminars, videos and satellite broadcasts. JCR education products are designed to assist organizations in understanding and meeting accreditation standards of the Joint Commission and ultimately to improve the quality and safety of health care delivery.
Steinbach has more than 20 years of experience in health care management. Her background includes knowledge of adult learning principles, education needs assessment and analysis, project management, strategic planning and budget development.
She most recently served as interim executive director of Education for JCR. Prior to that Steinbach was associate director of Conferences at JCR for more than five years. Steinbach's previous experience includes leadership roles in home health care and hospice administration; and staff nursing positions in home care, critical care and nursing education.
Steinbach received her master's in nursing from Rush University College of Nursing, Chicago, Ill. and a bachelor's in nursing from the University of Kentucky, Lexington, Ky.
The Methodist Hospital System Activates Eclipsys Sunrise Clinical Manager
Eclipsys Corporation®, The Outcomes Company®, announced that The Methodist Hospital and Methodist Sugar Land Hospital have successfully activated Sunrise Clinical ManagerTM as the first step towards the health system's goal of having a fully integrated, system-wide electronic medical record (EMR) to better coordinate and improve the delivery of care across its enterprise.
By having a single EMR at all four of The Methodist Hospital System's hospitals, Methodist's clinicians will have easy access to the latest and most complete patient information, regardless of their point of decision-making. The enterprise-wide EMR will also improve communication and coordination of the system's caregivers and support its commitment to being one of the best places to give and receive care.
"These initial activations are a significant step towards our goal of achieving a truly integrated EMR for The Methodist Hospital System," said Jerry Vuchak, the health system's vice president of Information Technology. "We're extremely proud that we've met all of our target dates thus far, and are fortunate to have a partner like Eclipsys to help us reach this extremely important milestone."
Methodist has delivered on an aggressive timeline which included activation of computerized physician order entry (CPOE), results, vital signs, patient intake and output flowsheets, and the medication administration record (eMAR) across all units at its flagship, The Methodist Hospital, at the same time. The Eclipsys CPOE system communicates orders immediately to nursing flowsheets, eliminating delays that slow the care process and making it easier for The Methodist Hospital System team to work together efficiently. The Methodist Hospital System will focus on high clinician adoption for CPOE as a means to help achieve improved outcomes by reducing the potential for avoidable medical errors.
Vuchak noted that clinicians are already embracing the solution. "One remarkable aspect of the implementation is that even though we haven't begun encouraging adoption for CPOE, our physicians are already placing orders at rates far beyond our expectations."
"We feel Sunrise Clinical Manager's easy configurability will lead to high adoption of the solution, as we could easily customize it to meet our specific needs such as developing complex order sets based on how our clinicians actually practice care," said David Bernard, MD, medical director of Clinical Pathology and director of Clinical Chemistry in the Department of Pathology of The Methodist Hospital System. Dr. Bernard serves as one of the project sponsors for the EMR implementation. "With the solution now activated, our medical staff is happy that they can complete their administrative work more quickly, enabling them to spend more time caring for our patients, thus improving the quality of our care."
The Methodist Hospital System will also integrate best-practice clinical practice guidelines (CPGs) into Sunrise Clinical Manager at all four hospitals to enhance critical thinking across the interdisciplinary team. The clinicians at Methodist Sugar Land are already taking advantage of this immediate access to an interdisciplinary professional practice framework to improve patient safety and the quality of care, with the other hospitals to follow shortly.
The CPGs have been developed by the staff and consortium members of the Clinical Practice Model Resource CenterTM (CPMRCTM), an Eclipsys subsidiary highly regarded for its clinical content and practice-transformation services.
"With so much pressure on health care organizations to better leverage information technology to improve their clinical, financial and operational practices, I am proud that such a well-respected organization as The Methodist Hospital System has partnered with Eclipsys for its system-wide EMR initiative," said R. Andrew Eckert, Eclipsys president and CEO. "The hospital system's ability to meet all target dates thus far demonstrates not only their skill set and commitment, but the level of partnership achieved with Eclipsys, and our ability to helping our customers meet their goals. I am also excited The Methodist Hospital System is leveraging our best-practice clinical content and proven methods to achieve high physician adoption to ensure the system will provide them maximum value in improving outcomes."
Genesis Health System Deploys
Omnicell Technology
Genesis Health System has installed new patient safety technology from Omnicell, Inc. in its Genesis Medical Center hospitals in Davenport and Silvis, Ill. "Patient safety was our primary motivation for purchasing Omnicell automation systems," said Kevin Cahill, director of pharmacy for Genesis Medical Center. "We have also gained efficiency in managing the medication-use process, from dispensing to purchasing and restocking, while adding new security and reporting capabilities for use of narcotics."
Omnicell's SecureVault solution, which combines software and automated dispensing technology, enables the pharmacy to track, monitor, and control the movement of controlled substances from a central vault to one or many locations. The system's benefits include compliance with regulatory standards, increased efficiency for the pharmacy, and improved administrative decision- making.
Omnicell's top-rated OmniRx medication dispensing systems automate the management and dispensing of medications at the point of use, increasing patient safety, improving workflow efficiency, and enhancing security. Key features include biometric (fingerprint) ID, advanced single-dose dispensing, bar code confirmation, the widest range of drawer modules enabling all security levels, integration with a Web browser for clinical reference information, and patient medication profiling.
The OmniDispenser module enables Genesis facilities to incorporate automated single-dose dispensing within Omnicell automated dispensing machines. With this module, access to medications is controlled and secure, restocking accuracy is improved, and nurses and other caregivers find improved efficiency, allowing them more time for patient care.
