E-prescribing can earn docs an extra 5.1 percent

“The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services is continuing to nudge doctors toward e-prescribing with the announcement Thursday of an initiative that offers them a boost of 5.1 percent in pay for going digital.”
Article
Bernie Monegain, Healthcare IT News, 31 October 2008

Hospital rooms of the future smarter

“The hospital room of the future is more interactive, integrated and efficient.
An example of such a room, developed by Cerner Corp., a health-care information technology company, was showcased at the University of Utah’s School of Medicine on Monday.”
Article
Lynne Wilde II, Deseret News, 14 October 2008

Get CPOE done right to prevent serious errors, Leapfrog warns

“The Leapfrog Group warned Tuesday that incorrect deployment of CPOE systems could lead to serious medication errors.
“As CPOE systems are implemented at the clinical level in hospitals, we’re seeing a broad variance in both the degree of adoption and in the quality of outcomes,” Leapfrog CEO Leah Binder said.”
Article
Bernie Monegain, Healthcare IT News, 14 October 2008

The Real Cost Saver: Personalized Medicine

“Much has been said about the ability of health-IT to reduce costs, reduce errors, and streamline health care. No doubt this is true and health-IT can cut costs and deliver benefit, though how much remains a matter of debate. My guess is it will be significant. Still, it may turn out that the really big cost (and life) saver is personalized medicine (PM).”
Article
John Russell, Digital Healthcare & Productivity, 23 September 2008

New world of medical treatment

“Student nurse Chris Chapman got ready to give her next patient his medications Wednesday morning at Parkview Hospital. She logged onto a laptop computer on a rolling cart and checked Jeff Enyeart’s chart for the drugs and dosages he needed.
From the pocket in her scrubs, she pulled out a Palm Pilot and brought up information on the medications in a drug reference guide, one of five nursing textbooks on her PDA.”
Article
Jennifer L. Boen, The News-Sentinel, 18 September 2008

Allscripts integrates e-prescribing solution into Google Health

“Allscripts officials say they have integrated their e-prescribing solution with Google Health to offer physicians a new means of sharing patient medication history.
The integration between Allscripts and Google will allow patients to securely transfer medication history, allergies and conditions from their physician’s Allscripts ePrescribe application to their Google Health account.”
Article
Molly Merrill, Healthcare IT News, 18 September 2008

Private e-scrips to launch

“Pharmacist Paul Naismith is taking a punt on launching a privately-owned electronic prescribing project, ahead of the release of a KPMG review on options being considered by the federal Government.
Mr Naismith, chief executive of pharmacy IT supplier Fred Health, said improving “basic safety” by reducing medication errors was too important to delay.”
Article
Karen Dearne, Australian IT, 16 September 2008

eHealth 301: Electronic Prescriptions ePrescribing Reduces Healthcare Costs and Medication Errors

“Imagine a world in which doctors can instantaneously see whether the medication they are prescribing you is the
appropriate dosage and has no contra-indications that could harm you. Imagine never having to worry that you will receive the wrong medicine simply because your doctor’s handwriting was illegible to the pharmacist. Imagine doctors and clinicians spending less time on administrative paper shuffling and having more time to provide you care.
Health information technology can transform our healthcare system, dramatically reducing costs, improving quality and delivery of care, and saving lives. It can change the way clinical facilities operate, providing patients with the most efficient and effective treatment possible.
In our eHealth 101 report, AeA analyzed the benefits of widespread use of electronic medical records (EMRs). Our eHealth 201 report looked at the potential of telemedicine, or remote healthcare delivery, in expanding access to healthcare. In this eHealth 301 report, we examine the benefits of ePrescribing, or the use of electronic prescriptions.”
Article
The AeA Competitiveness Series, July 2008

Leavitt promotes e-prescribing amid provider concerns about barriers

“Health and Human Services Secretary Michael Leavitt said Monday his department will do all it can to promote the use of electronic prescribing as a way to launch widespread use of healthcare IT.
Advancing electronic prescribing is and has been “a top goal” of this administration, Leavitt said.”
Article
Diana Manos, Healthcare IT News, 22 July 2008

Barcoded Technology Used To Reduce Medication Administration Has Flaws

“In the first study of its kind, researchers led by The University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine’s Ross Koppel, Ph.D. studied how hospital nurses actually use bar-coded technology that matches the right patient with the right dose of the right medication. The surprising result is that the design and implementation of the technology, which is often relied upon as a “cure-all” for medication administration errors, is flawed, and can increase the probabilities of certain errors.”
Article
Medical News Today, 2 July 2008

Robots Dispense Drugs to Keep Us Safer

“An estimated 1.5 million drug errors take place each year in the US alone. If we do the math, that means the average number of medication errors made in the hospital is one error, per patient, per day.”
Article
Trisha Torrey, About.com, 23 June 2008

Supporting Quality with Information Technology

“Next week, I’m meeting with the BIDMC Board’s Patient Care Assessment and Quality Committee (PCAC) to discuss the 2009 tactics for improving quality with information technology. The overall presentation includes 2008 accomplishments, 2009 goals, the national context, and our general approach. I’ve chosen to communicate the specifics in the context of the Joint Commission’s 2008 Patient Safety Goals.”
Article
John Halamka, Life as a Healthcare CIO, 18 June 2008

German medication specialists back decision support

“Two leading members of the medication commission of the German National Chamber of Doctors have urged German hospitals to implement “intelligent” computerised physician order entry (CPOE) with decision support systems to improve patient safety. They also advocated personal electronic medication lists in chronically ill patients.”
Article
e-Health Europe, 18 June 2008

Erickson, hospitals to create patient information exchange

“In a bid to improve treatment and reduce errors, Erickson Retirement Communities and three Baltimore-area hospital systems said yesterday that they plan to create a pioneering health information exchange that would give emergency room physicians quick access to patients’ medication histories.”
Article
Lorraine Mirabella, Baltimore Sun, 21 May 2008

Letter Pushes Medicare E-Scripts

“Forty-four businesses and organizations have signed a letter to Congress asking that legislation to mandate electronic prescribing for the Medicare program be approved.
The letter was sent May 1 to leaders of the Senate Finance Committee and the House Ways & Means and Energy & Commerce committees. “We urge you to actively support passage of the Medicare Electronic Medication and Safety Protection Act of 2007 (S. 2408 & H.R. 4296) this year to reduce deadly and costly prescription medication errors,” the letter states. “We, the undersigned, represent more than 210 million Americans through consumer and labor groups, employers, public purchasers, physician groups, pharmacy benefit managers, insurers, and other prescription drug stakeholders.”
Article
Health Data Management, 1 May 2008

Dutch Health Ministry warns pharmacies

The Dutch ministerial health inspection office warns pharmacies about problems with medication registration software. The software does not produce warnings on drug interaction. The inspection office also notices lack of actualized patient databases.

Letter (Dutch)
IGZ, 28 April 2008

Electronic medication record to be presented to Dutch parliament

Dutch health minister Klink will present the electronic medication record for approval to parliament this month. Implementation target is next year. It’s a major step towards a full EHR.
Article (Dutch)
Huisarts Vandaag, 17 April 2008

Demo project shows IT, best practices cut medication errors

“A demonstration project at the University of California San Francisco has reported a 56.8 percent reduction in medication administration errors. As a result, participating hospitals have increased the accuracy of their medication administration to 93 percent.”
Article
Bernie Monegain, Healthcare IT News, 28 March 2008

British Columbia upgrades e-prescribing system

“The Canadian province of British Columbia plans to invest $14.2 million in its eDrug project and enhance its PharmaNet e-prescribing system, officials said Monday.
British Columbia Health Minister George Abbott said the investment is the next step toward implementing province-wide electronic health records.”
Article
Richard Pizzi, Healthcare IT News, 11 March 2008

Preparing for the Unexpected

“Careful planning can help a health care organization manage CPOE’s unintended consequences.”
Article
Bob Elson, HHNMostWired, 5 March 2008

Leadership, Culture and Medication Safety

“When hospital CIOs and vendor executives gathered recently to discuss medication safety technology, the importance of culture change and executive sponsorship dominated the conversation. As with other technology implementations, winning over end users and senior leaders should start long before an IT staff member lays a finger on a clinician’s computer.”
Article
Jane Jeffries, HHNMostWired, 13 February 2008

Can Technology Reduce Clinician Medication Errors?

“Medication errors are one of the most serious problems occurring in doctor’s offices and out-patient clinics, and older persons with chronic conditions are the most vulnerable.”
Article
NewsCenter, University at Buffalo, 3 January 2008

Patients Fare Better In Hospitals Using Information Technology

“Patients are more likely to have better health outcomes if they are treated at hospitals using information technology (IT) systems, according to a comprehensive new Florida State University study.”
Article
Science Daily, 17 December 2007

Impact of electronic prescribing in a hospital setting: A process-focused evaluation

“Objective To evaluate effects of a natural CPOE implementation in a hospital setting and inform the efficacy of using CPOE rather than traditional paper medication orders.
Conclusion Findings support the use of CPOE and justify the need for interventions to increase CPOE adoption and consistent use among physicians.”
Abstract
Thomas R. Cunningham, E. Scott Geller and Steven W. Clarke, International Journal of Medical Informatics, In Press, Corrected Proof, Available online 28 November 2007, doi:10.1016/j.ijmedinf.2007.10.008

Providers team-up on wireless-skin patch for reducing medical errors

“A wireless technology provider and healthcare products manufacturer are teaming up to create a wireless skin patch that aims at reducing medical errors.”
Article
Molly Merrill, Healthcare IT News, 26 November 2007

Doctors switch to electronic health records

“Earlier this month the United States Department of Health and Human Services announced that they would begin a five-year plan to encourage small-to-medium sized physician practices to adopt electronic health records.”
Article
Chris Davies, The Daily Vidette, 13 November 2007

“Before more people die”

“These are the words of J. Lyle Bootman, an Institute of Medicine panelist who is calling on policymakers to require electronic prescribing in Medicare.”
Article
Molly Merrill, Healthcare IT Blog, 8 November 2007

German Hospital Tackles Medication Error Reduction with RFID Pilot

“Auto-ID technologies are loudly touted as potent tools to reduce medication errors and to better track material and personnel in hospitals. In a few months Dr. Martin Specht, vice chair, center of data processing, Jena University Hospital, Thuringia, Germany, expects to get a sense of just how much benefit is possible. Martin is overseeing an RFID-based pilot program to manage medication disbursement in a cardiac intensive care ward that handles 25 patients.”
Article
John Russell, Digital HealthCare & Productivity, 25 September 2007

SNOMED-CT: The Advanced Terminology and Coding System for eHealth

Kevin Donelly
SNOMED® International, College of American Pathologists, Northfield, Illinois, USA

Abstract

A clinical terminology is essential for Electronic Health records. It represents clinical information input into clinical IT systems by clinicians in a machine-readable manner. Use of a Clinical Terminology, implemented within a clinical information system, will enable the delivery of many patient health benefits including electronic clinical decision support, disease screening and enhanced patient safety. For example, it will help reduce medication-prescribing errors, which are currently known to kill or injure many citizens. It will also reduce clinical administration effort and the overall costs of healthcare.