University Health System

Integration Cultivates Complete Continuum of Care

University Health System has taken a best of breed approach to health information technology (HIT) applications. The organization is integrating specialized systems that provide quicker and more comprehensive insight into patient conditions. As the system continues to grow, it will enable smarter, higher-quality medical care for the entire community.

Since implementing its electronic medical record (EMR) system throughout its inpatient and outpatient sites in 2006, University Health System has continued to expand the system’s use. “We have been integrating as many systems into the EMR as possible,” said Bill Phillips, University Health System’s vice president and chief information officer. “Colonoscopy data, endoscopy data, PACS [picture archiving and communication system] images, smart pumps, an anesthesia system, and many others.” With about 160 interfaces integrated into the EMR system, University Health System is continuously looking to improve upon the base technology and give clinicians everything they need in one place for better patient care.

“It has fostered a lot of positive change,” Phillips said. “We have our patients’ continuum of care immediately available to our providers and other authorized health care providers wherever the patient chooses to be seen.” Integration is the key to University Health System’s success, as the organization has worked to digitize more and more of its processes and data into the patient record. University Health System currently has more than 6 years of documentation, order, and result history, including laboratory, radiology, pharmacy, and electrocardiogram, stored in the EMR system. This electronic documentation allows for the graphing and trending of results over long periods of time and provides a visual representation of patients’ progress.

For example, when caring for a patient with high cholesterol, the provider can see the graphical representation of cholesterol results over time, which helps determine if the prescribed medication is effective. The integration of anatomical pathology reports and images allows a physician to share biopsy images on a computer monitor with a patient while explaining the findings to the patient. Other applications such as orthopedic digital templating are used pre-operatively, allowing surgeons to digitally plan joint replacements by accurately predicting implant size requirements without the need for printed film. This system also enhances patients’ EMRs with detailed pre-surgical reports.

While patients are benefitting from the more complete physician view, they are also being treated in a safer, more efficient environment. Smart pumps are used for intravenous medication administration. These systems integrate different components such as barcoding, patient monitoring, and clinical best practice guidelines, which help nurses avoid medical errors such as delivering patients the incorrect medicine or dosage. An automated infection control system monitors the potential for methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSAs), which are infections caused by staph bacteria resistant to certain antibiotics. MRSAs are often contracted in hospitals and other health care facilities. Both of these systems are integrated into patients’ EMRs, which allows providers to identify problems early on and begin treatment sooner, thus improving outcomes.

The HIT infrastructure includes a robust wireless system, which runs clinical as well as operational devices. Patients are verified through venous palm scanning, and a real-time location system (RTLS) is used to track patients, physicians, nurses, and technicians. “In addition to improving patient safety, the RTLS system also improves throughput by reducing the time it takes to manually verify and enter all of the necessary information,” Phillips explained.

The benefits of University Health System’s EMR system have spread far beyond its inpatient and outpatient facilities. “We are a clinical services provider to inmates at local jails,” Phillips explained, “and all of their data is integrated into the EMR system as well.” Those prisoners who rejoin the community will already be in the EMR system, their continuum of care complete.

With 6.2 million EMR orders and 13 million patient documents processed in 2010, University Health System is well on its way to being a completely integrated, paperless organization. And the system is built for continuous improvement. “We have built fields to capture core quality metrics,” Phillips said, which means the organization is always learning where it’s succeeding, and where more work should be done.

For more information about University Health System’s HIT innovations, please contact:

Bill Phillips
Vice President and Chief Information Officer
University Health System
[email protected]  
(210) 358-2321