Thomas Jefferson University Hospital Upgrades To IDX Carecast(TM)
PHILADELPHIA and BURLINGTON, Vt., Nov. 16 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Thomas Jefferson University Hospital (Philadelphia, Pa.) today announced that it will upgrade to the next-generation IDX Carecast(TM) enterprise clinical system from IDX Systems Corporation to support its facility-wide use of computerized physician order entry (CPOE) and online clinical documentation.
Using IDX LastWord(R), Carecast's predecessor, Jefferson University Hospital successfully launched and established computerized physician order entry (CPOE) with 90 percent of patient care units now live on electronic ordering, including the critical care environment. CPOE helps prevent medication errors by replacing physicians' handwritten orders for medications, tests and other clinical procedures with an electronic communication system that links physicians, pharmacists, nurses and other clinicians. Organizations such as the Institute of Medicine cite CPOE as an important patient safety milestone.
"CPOE is essential to our organization's commitment to patient safety and the highest quality care," said Stephen Tranquillo, Vice President and CIO of Jefferson University Hospital. "With IDX enterprise clinical technology and the HP NonStop(TM) platform, we've had the benefit of extraordinary performance and reliability. With Carecast, we look forward to even more comprehensive functionality within CPOE and to expanding our online clinical documentation and electronic health record use as well."
Jefferson University Hospital has trained more than 900 physicians (including residents, fellows and attendings) on CPOE. "Use of CPOE and online documentation enables our physicians to more closely monitor their patients, without the phone calls and searching for paper charts previously required," said Dr. Jonathan Gottlieb, Chief Medical Officer and Senior Vice President for Clinical Affairs for Jefferson University Hospital. "For example, physicians can securely and remotely access their hospitalized patients' vital signs online from their offices. As a result, our physicians save time and have convenient access to timely information, supporting quality patient care." Dr. Gottlieb commented that the organization looks forward to even greater flexibility and comprehensive capabilities with Carecast orders.
"We developed a strong interdisciplinary team to drive our organization's roll-out of CPOE. Physicians, nurses, pharmacists, Information Services staff and many others collaborated closely to tailor LastWord for Jefferson University Hospital's care environment and to manage the transition to automation," said Mary McNichol, Director of Application Integration and Support. During the organization's CPOE roll-out, each patient care unit first went live on clinical documentation, including an online medication administration record (MAR) for each patient, which has been a vital tool for nurses. In addition, nurses benefit from the IDX flowsheet charting tool, which automatically pulls information from the electronic patient record to show each hospitalized patient's progress over time. More than 700 nurses have been trained on clinical documentation capabilities.
With Carecast, nurses look forward to such features as the Patient Summary View, an "at-a-glance" summary of the patient's problem list, recent vital signs, and information about all the clinicians on the care team, as well as the patient's contact information. In addition, nurses can review and filter the patient's active orders, including just those for medications.
LastWord patient tracking capabilities also support clinicians in managing patient flow through the hospital's Emergency Department, which draws approximately 80,932 patient visits a year. The ED team relies on LastWord tracking screens to monitor patient wait times, progress through the ED, and to coordinate patient care with ancillary departments (such as Lab and Radiology). "Clear, continually updated patient information is essential for supporting patient satisfaction and the highest quality care in the Emergency Department, and we anticipate additional benefits in these areas with our Carecast upgrade," commented Dr. Gottlieb.
"The Jefferson University Hospital team has pursued their goal of organization-wide CPOE with commitment, drive and focus," said Mike Raymer, Senior Vice President and General Manager, IDX Carecast Operating Unit. "As a prestigious teaching facility, Jefferson University Hospital is also instrumental in introducing a new generation of doctors to CPOE. We are proud to be associated with this visionary organization, and look forward to continued partnership as we support their commitment to patient safety and to providing comprehensive, timely patient information to their clinical team."
About Thomas Jefferson University Hospital
Thomas Jefferson University Hospital, Philadelphia, is one of only a few hospitals in the United States that is both a Level I Trauma Center and a federally designated regional spinal cord injury center. The Kimmel Cancer Center at Jefferson is designated as a clinical cancer center by the National Cancer Institute.
Over the years, U.S. News and World Report has consistently ranked many of Jefferson's services as among the best in the nation. These include cardiology/cardiac surgery, orthopaedics, rehabilitation, cancer, digestive disorders (gastroenterology), geriatrics, gynecology, neurology and neurosurgery, which are both based at the Jefferson Hospital for Neuroscience, otolaryngology - head and neck surgery, and urology.
In addition, Jefferson physicians have been named among the best doctors by Philadelphia Magazine and by Best Doctors in America. Jefferson has been ranked among "The Top Hospitals In America" by Modern Maturity, AARP's magazine for people over 50.
This year, for the eighth year in a row, Jefferson University Hospital has been awarded the Consumer Choice Award by the National Research Corporation (NRC), for being an innovator and leader in health care in Philadelphia.
In addition, Jefferson University Hospital was the recipient of the HealthGrades 2004 Distinguished Hospital Award for Clinical Excellence.
About IDX Carecast
Carecast is a fully integrated clinical, financial and administrative system, combining core clinical processes for orders, results, pharmacy and clinical documentation with administrative and financial processes for scheduling, registration, admitting, charging and billing. Representing the next generation of electronic clinical information solutions, Carecast delivers unsurpassed response time and reliability to support fast-paced clinical environments. The system automates workflow throughout the healthcare enterprise and enables rapid access to patient records across the care continuum, from admission to discharge, including inpatient and ambulatory care. The result is a comprehensive lifetime patient record that enhances the quality of care, promotes operational efficiencies, and supports a clinically- driven revenue cycle.
Developed by and for providers - in collaboration with leading hospitals, clinicians and healthcare executives - Carecast builds on 25 years of innovation with the IDX LastWord(R) enterprise system. Customers include leading healthcare organizations in the U.S., Canada and Europe. IDX also provides its enterprise clinical software as a subcontractor to BT and Fujitsu Services, Local Service Providers for the United Kingdom National Health Service's National Programme for Information Technology, an initiative to establish electronic patient records for 50 million patients.
About IDX
Founded in 1969, IDX Systems Corporation (http://www.idx.com/) provides information technology solutions to maximize value in the delivery of healthcare, improve the quality of patient service, enhance medical outcomes, and reduce the costs of care. IDX supports these objectives with a broad range of complementary and functionally rich products installed at 3,300 customer sites. Customers include 138,000 physicians who utilize practice management systems to improve patient care and other workflow processes. IDX software solutions are installed at:
380 integrated delivery networks (IDNs) representing more than 500 hospitals 175 large group practices with more than 200 physicians 665 mid-size group practices with less than 200 physicians
IDX also provides its enterprise clinical software as a subcontractor to BT and Fujitsu Services, Local Service Providers for the United Kingdom National Health Service's National Programme for Information Technology, an initiative to establish electronic patient records for 50 million patients.
The IDX web strategy includes browser technology, e-commerce and web-based tools - built using Internet architecture - that facilitate access for patients, physicians and care providers to vital health information and data managed by the IDX clinical, administrative, financial and managed care products. IDX has approximately 2,100 full-time employees worldwide.
IDX, Carecast and LastWord are registered trademarks or trademarks of IDX Investment Corporation.
This press release contains forward-looking statements about IDX Systems Corporation that involve a number of risks and uncertainties. Among the important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those indicated by such forward-looking statements are uncertainties or difficulties in developing new services, including Carecast, possible failure of IDX to realize the benefits of developing clinical guidelines, difficulties in implementing systems, possible deferral, delay or cancellation by customers of computer system or service purchase decisions, possible delay of system installations and service implementations, development by competitors of new or superior technologies, changing economic, political and regulatory influences on the healthcare and e-Commerce industries, possible disruptions in the national economy caused by terrorist activities and foreign conflicts, changes in product pricing policies, governmental regulation of IDX's software and operations, the possibility of product-related liabilities, and factors detailed from time to time in IDX's periodic reports and registration statements filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, which important factors are incorporated herein by reference. IDX undertakes no obligation to update forward-looking statements to reflect changed assumptions, the occurrence of unanticipated events, or changes in future operating results, financial condition or business over time.
For more information, contact: Catherine Sweeney Media Relations - IDX Carecast 206.607.5462 catherine_sweeney@idx.com Phyllis Fisher Director of Public Relations Thomas Jefferson University Hospital 215.955.6300 phyllis.fisher@jefferson.edu
NOTE TO EDITORS, Investors: This agreement was signed during the thirdquarter of 2004.
IDX Systems CorporationCONTACT: Catherine Sweeney, Media Relations of IDX Carecast, +1-206-607-5462, catherine_sweeney@idx.com; or Phyllis Fisher, Director of PublicRelations of Thomas Jefferson University Hospital, +1-215-955-6300,phyllis.fisher@jefferson.edu
Web site: http://www.idx.com/