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Integrated Patient Information |
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Health Information
Exchange of Montana and Northwest Healthcare Achieve Rapid
Deployment of ICA Integrated Technology Solution
Informatics Corporation of America
February 12, 2009
Rural hospitals, clinics, home health facilities in western
Montana to have community-based electronic health record
Nashville, TN & Kalispell, MT -- Informatics Corporation of
America (ICA; www.icainformatics.com), providing clinicians with
a single technology solution for accessing, evaluating and
acting upon patient information across disparate systems, today
announced that its solution is live and successfully aggregating
data from all core clinical systems at Northwest Healthcare, the
largest participant in the Health Information Exchange of
Montana (HIEM). The HIEM contracted with ICA in July 2008 for a
single-source solution to consolidate patient data from existing
clinical information systems in medical facilities throughout a
45,000 square-mile area in western Montana, with the goal of
improving quality, reducing duplication of effort and
facilitating communication across treatment settings. |
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The hospitalists at Northwest
Healthcare and Family Health Care have begun using the ICA
solution to view information from all hospital-based clinical
systems to assess and treat their patients during rounds. This
initial implementation of the solution is the first phase in the
community-wide initiative to integrate patient information
across six hospitals and more than a dozen clinics. Deployment
of the technology throughout the remaining hospitals and clinics
is expected to be completed by mid-2009.
Jonathan Anderson, MD, Director of Medical Technology for
Northwest Healthcare and a practicing physician, stated, “I’m
excited about incorporating data from North Valley Hospital in
Whitefish and the rest of the region because we share much of
the same patient population. Having a complete picture of my
patients allows me to understand the unique nuances of each
individual and better manage their acute condition.”
The solution will be rolled out to the emergency department of
the hospital next, relieving physicians of the need to log on to
five or more disparate systems to accumulate information on a
patient. With a single view of patient data from the various
treatment settings in the area, physicians will be able to
prepare for a patient’s arrival at the emergency department and
better coordinate follow-up care.
“Although a large percentage of medical clinics throughout
western Montana are ahead of the curve in implementing
electronic medical records, information cannot easily be shared
among the various treatment settings and geographic locations
serving our region,” said Kip Smith, Executive Director of the
HIEM. “ICA is breaking down silos of information to deliver a
comprehensive longitudinal medical record viewable by all
healthcare organizations within the community. We see this as
the next evolution of providing every member of a healthcare
team the information they need, when they need it, so they can
deliver optimal care to the citizens of western Montana.”
Looking forward, Smith outlined the additional benefits ICA’s
solution is slated to bring to the community. “Once the initial
deployment is complete within the HIEM, we expect incremental
rollout of secure clinical messaging, clinical flow sheets and
dashboards to enhance communication, acute care monitoring and
disease management throughout the community,” he said.
According to Gary Zegiestowsky, CEO of ICA, “The HIEM is leading
the way in clinical data exchange. They are using the ICA
solution to combine demographic, appointment, admission,
discharge and transfer information with clinical data from
laboratory, microbiology, blood bank, pathology, inpatient and
outpatient encounter summaries, medication lists, allergies,
EKGs, clinical imaging, PACs, quality indicators and other
clinical documents and reports into a cognitive tool to support
physicians and other clinicians at the point of care. As
patients naturally navigate through the local healthcare system,
their relevant healthcare information follows them from
treatment setting to treatment setting.”
In these uncertain economic times, he emphasized the need for
deploying systems that add value to long-term investments in
healthcare information technology, saying, “By spanning existing
systems to improve the clinical value of current technology, our
solution helps healthcare enterprises reduce costs, increase
interdepartmental communication and improve the quality of
care.”
About the Health Information Exchange of Montana (HIEM)
The HIEM includes Glacier Community Health Center and Northern
Rockies Medical Center in Cut Bank; Lincoln County Community
Health Center, and St. John’s Lutheran Hospital in Libby; St.
Luke’s Community Hospital in Ronan; North Valley Hospital in
Whitefish, and Northwest Healthcare’s Kalispell Regional Medical
Center in Kalispell, as well as more than a dozen clinics across
the region.
About Informatics Corporation of America (ICA)
Informatics Corporation of America (ICA) was created with
nationally renowned Vanderbilt Medical Center to take innovative
technology developed by Vanderbilt physicians to the broader
healthcare market. Today ICA is unmatched in its ability to
deliver a cost-effective, proven solution that leverages
complete data across clinical settings to aid decision-making
and improve patient outcomes. Visit www.icainformatics.com |
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