Time For The Industry To Take Its MedicineTime For The Industry To Take Its Medicine

Years of talk and investment start to pay off as medical providers use technology to improve care and efficiency.

Marianne Kolbasuk McGee, Senior Writer, information

September 16, 2005

10 Min Read

information 500 - Health Care & Medical Health-care companies among this year's information 500 are deploying IT to boost patient care and safety, improve efficiencies, and reduce costs. Initiatives include systems for computerized physician order entry, E-prescriptions, wireless bedside bar-coded medication, and electronic medical records. They're able to flag potential problems such as drug allergies and dangerous interactions, enable critical-care personnel to treat patients remotely, and provide time- and cost-saving solutions.

One example is drug benefits and mail-order supplier Medco Health Solutions Inc.'s RationalMed Patient Safety Solutions, which analyzes clinical data from various sources to identify potential drug-related problems. In the last year, the system identified nearly a million patients at risk for medication issues, says Mark Halloran, Medco's senior VP and CIO. Medco developed proprietary clinical rules for the system that are applied to its NCR Teradata 30-terabyte data warehouse, which, Halloran says, is the 23rd largest data warehouse in the world.

Technology also is helping companies deal with a nationwide shortage of intensivists or critical-care doctors. Saint Luke's Health System in February deployed an electronic intensive-care unit that lets it provide round-the-clock monitoring of as many as 100 ICU patients by one intensivist physician and two critical-care nurses at a remote center, says John Wade, Saint Luke's VP and CIO.

The E-ICU doctor and nurses observe patients via cameras. Monitors are programmed to send alerts if a patient's condition changes or other problems develop. Remote doctors can adjust some of the equipment from afar, such as the speed of intravenous drips, Wade says. Remote nurses and doctors also instruct on-site personnel on patient care.

Without the E-ICU, Saint Luke's would have had to close many of its ICU beds at its rural facilities in Kansas and Missouri, Wade says. "There's a shortage of about 35,000 to 40,000 intensivists nationally, yet government guidelines require an intensivist at every ICU bedside," he says. "Technology is helping to bridge that gap by bringing board-certified intensivists to the bedside electronically."

Baylor Health Care System, which operates hospitals in the Dallas/Fort Worth area, has introduced MediKiosks, wireless "E-clipboards" used by patients registering at the company's breast imaging center, says Bob Pickton, Baylor's senior VP and CIO. MediKiosks simplify a process that had required 13 paper forms and save 18 hours a day in staff time. They will be rolled out at 15 other outpatient facilities over the next three years, he says.

CareGroup Healthcare System has an electronic dashboard app in the emergency department of Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center to track patients' clinical progress, bed availability, and workflow. As a result, patients stay an average of 45 minutes less in the ER. Beth Israel also has a PanGo Networks Inc. Wi-Fi network that uses active RFID tags to track equipment and staff. Infants at its neonatal ICU wear bracelets with passive RFID tags.

CIO John Halamka, who mountain climbs, has taken RFID further by having a tag implanted in his arm. Medical data in the chip can be accessed if he fell and couldn't communicate. When Halamka tells people about the implant, he says responses "range from 'You're a true pioneer' to 'That's something out of The X-Files!'"