Electronic Health Records (EHR, EMR)

Proposed technology initiatives range from telehealth and remote patient monitoring to predictive analytics, mobile workforce computing and artificial intelligence and machine learning technologies.

Officially announced at the HIMSS AsiaPac Awards last week during the HIMSS AsiaPac 19 conference, Princ Paknampo Hospital made history by becoming the first hospital in Thailand to achieve the HIMSS Analytics Electronic Medical Record Adoption Model (EMRAM) Stage 7 validation. The EMRAM was developed in 2005 with the first Stage 7 EMRAM achieved in 2008. There are eight stages (0– 7) that measure a hospital's implementation and utilisation of information technology applications. Tracking their progress in completing eight stages (0 – 7), hospitals can review the implementation and utilisation of information technology applications with the intent of reaching Stage 7, which represents an advanced electronic patient record environment. Princ Paknampo Hospital is a 100-bed hospital based in Nakhon Sawan, well outside the capital city of Bangkok. Upon full implementation of the EMR, Princ Paknampo was able to leverage a number of technological applications to improve patient care and safety. Princ Paknampo implemented a full Clinical Decision Support (CDS) alert and order set for early detection of septic shock, and enacted guidelines to monitor for patient care against their set of standards.  With an advanced analytics monitoring system, the hospital is able to get real time data on specific sepsis related indicators – to better monitor, and reduce, the instances of sepsis. The hospital’s mortality rate, length of stay and costs from sepsis-related treatments have all significantly decreased as a result. According to Hal Wolf, President and CEO of HIMSS, this designation represents the first time any hospital in Thailand has reached this advanced stage of digital healthcare and could lead to significant improvements in patient care in the country, and the region. Princ Paknampo Hospital was the first hospital in Thailand to achieve Stage 6 on the EMRAM in 2016. “Ensuring patient care is of the highest quality possible is the ultimate impact of the electronic medical record system, said Wolf. We at HIMSS are proud of Princ Paknampo Hospital for its commitment to patient health, and congratulate them on reaching the ultimate level of advancement in their electronic health record implementation journey, and also for becoming the first Stage 7 organisation in Thailand.” “The hospital has realised a 97 percent reduction in pre-dispensing errors during the closed-loop medication administration process, a substantial reduction in sepsis cases, and an increase in diabetes protocol compliance. This hospital will serve as a beacon for other hospitals across Thailand and throughout Asia,” added Wolf.

During Converge2Xcelerate at the HIMSS Connected Health Conference, a blockchain expert and the CEO of DirectTrust put forth some ideas about how direct ledger technology could help solve a longstanding challenge.

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Project Apollo, built using AWS cloud infrastructure, was unveiled by CEO Brent Shafer at the Cerner Health Conference, where it was also announced that Geisinger signed a 10-year deal to make Cerner's HealtheIntent the preferred analytics platform.

The annual report from ECRI Institute spotlights the Top 10 technology dangers in hospitals, ambulatory clinics and LTPAC settings.

At the Connected Health Conference in Boston next week, the patient advocacy group celebrates a decade spent changing the conversation about how technology-enabled care is delivered.

The North Carolina health system expects to see a decrease in emergency department utilization and readmission rates.

The health system, which had been forced to shift operations into manual mode, using paper copies in place of digital records, purchased a decryption key from the hackers for an undisclosed sum.

The integration between Cerner's HealtheIntent and i2i’s analytics products will offer clients a broader set of pop health management capabilities, the companies say, enabling more data-driven insights for Medicaid populations.