Berkshire Health Systems

Source: Healthcare Digital

Date :22/11/2007 06:21:37

Streamlined communications

With three healthcare facilities in the State of Massachusetts, Berkshire Health Systems is leading the way with its new Electronic Medical Records

Written by Lucy Mowatt and Produced by Tom Venturo

Berkshire Health Systems (BHS) is the primary provider of health care in Berkshire County; it covers 75 percent of the healthcare requirements in the area. Joe Diver and Michael Blackman MD explained how the company plans to employ a healthsystem wide integrated electronic medical record, and the technology it is investing in to drive these changes.

Berkshire Health Systems is located in the westernmost county of Massachusetts employing approximately 6000 people and its facilities include two acute care hospitals (27 beds and 309 beds,) physician practices, a visiting nurse association, and long term care facilities.

Joe Diver is the Chief Information Officer for the healthsystem and Michael Blackman MD is Chief Medical Information Officer. Together they oversee the healthcare information systems and technology for all of the affiliates, ensuring that best practice is being implemented.

As such, it would seem that the pair have been working hard; Berkshire Health Systems is almost five years into implementing a new Electronic Medical Record (EMR) system across all sites and departments, which will enable access not only to patient medical history, but to current medication needs and ongoing treatments. This information will also be available to the patient’s primary care physician, who will oversee a patient’s future needs and ensure that the continuity of care is supported.

Michael Blackman says: “We’re looking to integrate the EMR throughout all aspects of patient care within the healthcare system. That includes the inpatient areas, the Emergency Department, the physician’s offices, right through to the visiting nurse.” This means a comprehensive reassessment of recording methods and procedures.

Electronic Medical Record – The Patient Centered Approach

Electronic Medical Records have been a huge success across Berkshire Health Systems. A recent case study of EMR usage over one sample hour showed impressive results. Joe Diver elaborates upon the results of this study: “With 115 users from all of our different facilities, we launched just over 1260 access requests for medical records on 352 patients. It meant that communications have been streamlined because more than one can access the EMR at any one time; we could never do that in the paper world.”

Berkshire Health Systems and its affiliates continue to be in a hybrid setting; part electronic and part paper. The healthsystem’s plans going forward are aggressive. Yet that same aggressiveness is exactly what has been used for the current success rate. This spring, the systems added to the Electronic Medical Record documentation process will include:

¬ Emergency Room Documentation

¬ Electronic Medication Administration Record

¬ Bedside Medication Verification (Bar Code Scanning)

¬ Integration of Physician Offices

Diver explains that the Information Systems support philosophy is very simply. “Be the Patient. If you, the IT professional, place yourself on the inside of the bedrails and were receiving medical treatment at one of our facilities, how comfortable would you be while the clinician was using the technology you deployed? If you are not 100 percent comfortable, reconsider your approach.” By placing the patient in the center of the applications being deployed, it benefits everyone involved.

Dr Blackman eloquently stated: “We are not just implementing technology but rather, transforming the way in which we communicate care delivery. Through this we are supporting a streamlined communication approach to all caregivers responsible for that patient and providing decision support at the bedside.”

CPOE is utilized to provide that real time decision support. Medication safety is being improved through the use of automated medication dispensing cabinets and the move toward closed loop medication administration. Joe Diver explains: “We will be bar-coding the unit dose level of medicines, which will be scanned at the patient’s bedside, against the barcode on the patient’s wristband. This makes sure that it’s the right medication, the right patient and the right dose. It really closes the loop on medication administration and provides much more safety.”

The national trend in the Unites States is to prepare for a national healthcare information exchange. Under the leadership of these two gentlemen, Berkshire Health Systems will be in a very good position when the time comes to make the connection.

A wide range of services

As a major teaching affiliate of the University Of Massachusetts School Of Medicine, Berkshire Health provides both undergraduate and graduate medical education. Residency programs include Internal Medicine, Surgery, and Pathology.

As the leading provider of healthcare in the community a Berkshire Medical Systems offers a wide range of leading services across its facilities, including a Level Two Trauma Center.

BHS has also won awards for its healthcare delivery and medical services. The company has received the Get with the Guidelines Performance Award from the American Heart Association in Heart Failure, Coronary Disease and Stroke. This means that Berkshire Health Systems complies with the best practice for treatment of these conditions, as well as raising awareness of preventative measures.