SUE WHETSTONE, a nurse project leader, works on a new computer system.
The Lifespan health care network is implementing a new computer system, which allows doctors to access patients’ test results from personal computers in the hospitals and their offices. It will allow doctors to get information and make treatment decisions much quicker, according to Lifespan administrators.
Lifespan’s information technology department actually decided about two years ago which company and software it would use, but first had to update the health care organization’s computer network and test how the new program would work, according to Carole Cotter, chief information officer. Cotter said they are phasing in the new program, which is called Invision and sold by Shared Medical Systems (NYSE: SMS) of Malvern, Pa.
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Invision was installed at Miriam Hospital in Providence in December 1997, Rhode Island Hospital gained access on Jan. 1 this year, and it is scheduled for set up at Newport Hospital in February, Cotter said.
The installation is part of Lifespan’s overall IS plan, which is largely guided by the suggestions of a physicians’ committee. Lifespan has committed several million dollars to upgrading its computers over a three-year period. Cotter said she was not sure of Invision’s total cost.
“We had done work with physicians to try to understand their needs; this is very high priority on their lists,” Cotter explained. “They want access to information in their offices the sooner they know the information the sooner they can make decisions about care.”
If tests are critical, however, Lifespan labs will typically contact the doctor as soon as the results are available, Cotter added. But even in non-critical cases doctors would like quicker access to test results, she said.
“If we can cut four hours off the time they receive the results, that’s four hours off the time he has to make a decision,” Cotter said.
“This is one of the good things (about being in a health care network),” said Lifespan spokeswoman Linda Shelton.
The new system also provides some other potential benefits for patients and medical staff alike. One major benefit is that it should help prevent doctors from ordering unnecessary repeat tests if a patient winds up visiting more than one Lifespan facility. For instance, Cotter said, if a person visits Newport Hospital for routine tests or X-ray, then winds up in the emergency room at Rhode Island Hospital, doctors could quickly look up the results instead of ordering a new round of tests.
Electrocardiograms, which are tests that measure heart activity, are not yet available on the computer system, according to Cotter. Testing is under way, however, and Cotter said she hopes to have EKGs available on the computer “within a couple of months.”
At the same time Invision is being introduced system wide, Cotter said the IS department is also giving doctors access to some medical knowledge bases that are now only available through the medical library. “They will actually be able to print out information about a drug they’re prescribing, or information about a disease they’ve just diagnosed (and pass it right on to patients),” she explained.
To preserve patient confidentiality only authorized medical staff will be allowed to access records. A log will be kept of everyone who inspects records through the computer and users must have a password, Cotter added.
Also, patient records are available in a “read only” format so that only authorized lab staff can update patient records. “That’s so the record couldn’t mistakenly be altered,” explained Joan Flynn, director of risk management for Rhode Island, Miriam and Bradley hospitals.
Patient data will actually be stored on a secured site in SMS’s system in Malvern, Penn., so that Lifespan can save money by downsizing its own mainframe computer and by not having to invest in costly backup and security systems, Cotter said. “It’s protected from unauthorized technical and physical access like a Fort Knox for data,” she added.
“They (SMS) have huge generators (to avoid losing data in storms, blackouts and other events). That’s expensive so that’s why we end up getting a return on our investment, because we don’t have to duplicate all that,” Cotter explained.
SMS is a publicly traded company that provides information systems and services to more than 2,700 customers in 20 countries, according to information available on its Internet site.
After setting up Invision at Newport Hospital next month, Cotter said they will move on and finish tackling the Year 2000 compliance issue, then work on installing computer applications designed for nurses. Among other goals are to automate the care plans nurses create for each patient and to computerize patient status reports, which are now passed on in writing and verbally at the end of each shift to nurses coming on duty.
