Hospital makes e-records push

Jay County Hospital is finalizing plans to implement an electronic medical record system and a contract should be ready by the April board of trustees meeting.

"We're kind of coming to the end of our search," said hospital CEO Joe Johnston.

Jeff Horn, manager of information systems and support systems, gave a presentation at a special meeting Thursday to the hospital board informing them that Meditech Version 6.0 is the front runner system being looked at now.

Meditech is able to provide systems for both the hospital and physicians' offices that will communicate seamlessly.

Horn said that hospital staff saw the system in action during site visits to Community Hospital in Anderson and Margaret Mercy Hospital in Batesville, as well as having peer discussions with those two hospitals and personnel at facilities in Scottsburg and Logansport.

"Everything we did just validated what we were finding out," he said of the search process.

The system will provide electronic records containing patient information that will be available at all locations in real time. As changes are made to the file, they will update instantly.

"It's going to be very easy for people to use," Horn said of identical interfaces that will be used in the hospital and in physician offices.

The Meditech system will also include features that will aid medical staff - including interaction and allergy checking which can reduce complications from conditions or medications, a barcode scanning system that will allow information to be brought up instantly, instant notification when new information is available in files and automatic time and date stamps.

"This will definitely meet our needs for everything," Horn said.

For example, a nurse could scan a patient's wristband then scan a barcode on a medication. The EMR would instantly check to make sure that medication was prescribed for the patient, that the dosage is right and that it won't affect an allergy or interact negatively with another drug. If any problems are encountered, a notification will appear on the screen with information.

The system will also have security features that can limit the amount of information people can access that will protect patient information. For example, employees in the lab will only be able to access information necessary to their duties.

"I can let one person see one piece of paper and nothing else," Horn said of the features.

The hospital is still negotiating with Meditech and a final cost hasn't been calculated yet.

"It's not finalized," Johnston said.

In March 2009, when EMRs were discussed by the hospital board, a price tag of around $2 million was mentioned.

Johnston said he couldn't offer a cost estimate since nothing is set in stone yet and that although Meditech is the frontrunner, that doesn't exclude other finalists.

"They are as cost competitive as any of the three finalists," Horn said of Meditech.

Horn, however, did have numbers for additional costs the hospital could expect to incur if Meditech is selected as the software provider. An additional $400,000 for hardware, networking and construction, $100,000 for interfaces to communicate with certain hospital systems, $50,000 for interface engines to communicate with outside providers and $100,000 in training costs.

The hospital is hoping to have the EMR in place by the end of the year while government funding options are available as part of the American Recovery and Relief Act.

The hospital will continue negotiations with Meditech in hopes of having a contract ready for the April board of trustees meeting. The hospital board next meets on March 24, but Johnston said he doesn't think the plans will be finalized by then.

"It's got to go through a lot of hands," Johnston said.

"To have it done by the first of the year is pretty aggressive," said board president David Littler.[[In-content Ad]]