Many hospital CIOs are facing a similar question: Will house-wide hospital information systems reign supreme, or is there still a place for specialty systems?
We faced this very question at Inova Health Systems and found that, while a house-wide information system is important to the overall flow of data, a hybrid approach with specialized departmental systems that support the workflow and interoperate with our core system met our needs.
At Inova, our busy emergency departments and free-standing emergency care centers were central to our decision to supplement our health information system with specialty systems. Most CIOs would agree that an ED has different IT needs than other departments – from decision-making support to complicated levels of documentation required for reimbursement – and these needs require specific functionality that not all systems provide.
Furthermore, EDs are fast-paced and highly stressful environments that represent the front door of a hospital, a gateway for the rest of the building and the hub from which many diagnostic decisions are made and patients are funneled to different departments. One size fits all in some areas, but one built for admissions would not be the best for physicians or patients.
Implementing a specialized EDIS offers several key benefits to the delivery of patient care and the hospital as a whole.
First there’s decision support: a system of rules and reminders based on allergies or medications a patient might have or be taking. These support caregivers by helping them to determine the protocol for a patient, speeding the treatment process and helping them understand best practices to build in right up front as care is being given.
Second, a risk model allows us to quickly identify, based on the patient’s condition and stage of treatment, the steps ED clinicians can take and tests or procedures to order quickly to get the patient on the right path of recovery — whether that calls for further treatment within the hospital or discharging them to go home or to another setting.
Finally, our ED system helps us remain both clinically and financial stable by supporting efficient operations and the completion of critical documentation for regulatory, reimbursement, and compliance requirements. While these needs and requirements are specific to the ED in many ways, their effect can be felt throughout the health system. Whether its radiology, the OR, or the finance department, practices put into place in the ED can have a very far-reaching effect.
At Inova Health, specialized systems afford us key functionality that many house-wide systems just can’t deliver. House-wide systems support the flow of patient information and working through data exchange requirements is key. In the end, it is all about the patient receiving optimal care and the tools working well for our physicians, nurses, and other staff.
Geoff Brown is senior vice president and chief information officer at Inova Health System, a nonprofit hospital system based in Falls Church, Va. that includes six hospitals and fields approximately 400,000 emergency room visits annually.
