Wishard, Regenstrief Institute Partnership Earns National Association’s President’s Award

INDIANAPOLIS, June 28 /PRNewswire/ –The National Association of Public
Hospitals and Health Systems (NAPH) delivered one of its highest honors to one
of its largest members.

Wishard Health Services, the nation’s third-largest safety-net health care
system in outpatient visits, and the Regenstrief Institute, Inc., an
internationally respected medical and public health informatics innovator,
earned the NAPH 2010 President’s Award for Health Reform Readiness and
Leadership.

“We are grateful to NAPH for this tremendous honor recognizing the longstanding
and mutually beneficial partnership between Wishard and Regenstrief,” said Lisa
E. Harris, M.D., chief executive officer and medical director for Wishard Health
Services and a Regenstrief investigator. “Our cutting-edge work has informed
health information technology across the globe and has generated more than 300
peer-reviewed research papers by Regenstrief investigators, all of which
describe improvements in the quality, efficiency, effectiveness and safety of
care provided here at Wishard. At the heart of it all, our partnership improves
care for patients here at Wishard and around the world who benefit from the
advances we make in health information technology.”

The award for Wishard and Regenstrief’s collective improvement of health care
effectiveness, quality, safety and efficiency through the use of health
information technology was presented to the two organizations yesterday at the
NAPH Annual Conference in Denver.

The Wishard-Regenstrief partnership has produced groundbreaking work that
provides the foundation for electronic medical record systems in use around the
globe. Accomplishments include:

– An enterprise-wide health information network that includes
comprehensive data for each outpatient, emergency and inpatient site
– A secure comprehensive patient-oriented electronic health record that
contains all data from each patient encounter
– A utility through which providers can access information for individual
patients in a format that enhances understanding of patients’ conditions
and the care received
– A cadre of data managers and analysts capable of providing clinical
leaders and administrators with summary data to support decision-making
– A computer-based order-entry system used at all Wishard sites
– A decision-support system providing reminders and care suggestions to
providers either as part of paper encounter forms or electronically
through the order-entry system
– A decision-support system to improve individual health care decisions
– A system that provides patient data to intervention teams when those at
high risk for adverse events are identified

These advancements have resulted in improvements that include reducing redundant
outpatient test orders, the time needed from admissions to the first drug
administration, and adverse drug events and medication errors; lowering hospital
costs; increasing the frequency of discussions about advanced care directives;
and facilitating collaborative patient management.

“We have long been very proud of the leading-edge research and education
generated through the Wishard-Regenstrief partnership, and today’s recognition
from one of the most respected health care organizations in the country
reinforces that pride,” said Paul Dexter, M.D., Regenstrief investigator and
Wishard’s chief medical information officer and director of clinical
applications. “More than anything, this honor is a testament to the work we have
done and its role in improving the quality of health care for people in need
here in Marion County and throughout the world.”

More than 30 years ago, Wishard was one of the first hospitals in the United
States to develop and utilize electronic medical records. Just last year,
through the Wishard-Regenstrief partnership, Wishard’s fleet of 25 ambulances
became the first emergency medical services agency in the world to be equipped
with new electronic medical record technology, allowing paramedics and emergency
medical technicians the ability to obtain vital patient health history by
accessing their hospital medical records on the scene.

“Wishard Health Services is an outstanding example of a core public safety-net
health system that is also one of the most innovative systems in the country,
public or private,” said Larry S. Gage, President, NAPH.

SOURCE Wishard Health Services