Intermountain writes the book on info technology
If Larry Grandia ever wanted to send the physicians at Intermountain Health Care into revolt, all he’d have to do is pull the plug on the health system’s information network: Health Evaluation through Logic Processing (HELP).
"It would probably be the same kind of reaction if I pulled HELP as if I pulled out all of the phone lines," says Grandia, MEA, vice president and chief information officer at the Salt Lake City-based health system. "The HELP system has become that much a part of our infrastructure."
Over the years, the state-of-the-art information network has saved the health system so much money that it has literally quit counting. "We don’t even ask questions like that anymore," Grandia says. That’s because in regard to health care information systems, IHC is writing the book an enviable position and one that will no doubt help keep the 23-hospital system the dominant force in the Utah market.
Like most clinical information networks, HELP, which was developed with assistance from the 3M Corp., concentrates on streamlining the care process and reducing practice variation on noncomplicated cases. But one of the system’s most cutting-edge features is its alerting functions that warn physicians of potential medical complications or reactions.
To illustrate the computer network’s abilities, Grandia uses the example of a patient admitted with a heart condition whose physician prescribes medication. "As soon as the physician enters that medication into the patient’s record electronically, alerts could arise that tell the doctor of any potential complications," he explains.
If long-term use posed a risk to the kidneys, HELP would then recommend the appropriate tests that would identify the problem at an easily correctable stage. This not only cuts down on complication rates, which can be costly in a capitated environment, but it also keep patients healthier, thus affording them a higher quality of care, Grandia says.
Patients’ rooms are wired
HELP is currently wired into all of IHC’s hospitals that are larger than 150 beds. At each of these facilities a computer terminal is next to every inpatient bed. This allows the medical staff, primarily nurses, the opportunity to immediately enter information into the centralized patient record.
"In most institutions, the nurses enter the information into patient charts at the end of a shift," Grandia says. "In our case, because care rules are being driven off of the data, the nurse charts the information right away because there is a chance that that new piece of information could generate an alert. There is nothing worse than having someone key in data at the end of a shift, eight hours after they have been collected, and having a piece of information generating an alert that could have been caught eight hours earlier."
[For more information about information systems with alerting functions, contact 3M. Telephone: (801) 265-4362.]
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