Learn how Atlantic Health significantly expanded its clinical offerings to elevate its level of care with electronic health record software from McKesson Physician Practice http://www.mckesson.com/en_us/McKesson.com/For%2BHealthcare%2BProviders/Physician%2BPractices/For%2BIndependent%2BPractices/Practice%2BPartner.html

1. Case Study
Atlantic Health
Creates a Fully Integrated Electronic
Health Record with Advanced Technologies
Atlantic Health is the largest Challenges
health system in northern New When Linda Reed, RN, MBA,
Jersey and a leading provider of became the chief information
stroke, cancer and cardiac care. officer in 2004, she quickly
Atlantic Health is a leading Throughout its 100-year history, identified gaps in Atlantic Health’s
provider of stroke, cancer and Atlantic Health has been among clinical application infrastructure.
the first to offer groundbreaking
cardiac care. Its flagship hospital, technologies, such as CyberKnife – “We needed to significantly expand
a robotic radiosurgery system for our clinical offering to support the
Morristown Memorial, is nonoperative cancers – and the higher level of care our patients
MagnetTM-designated for Merci Retrieval SystemTM to remove expect and to enable us to remain
blood clots from stroke patients. competitive,” notes Reed. “And
excellence in nursing services Innovation is a differentiator while our patient safety record was
and helps attract patients from good, we wanted to do more.”
and houses New Jersey’s only the surrounding area and
regional trauma center. New York City. Objectives included creating an
integrated EHR for every patient,
Overlook Hospital is home However, Atlantic Health with patient information accessible
had focused for years on an to authorized caregivers anytime,
to the pioneering Atlantic IT infrastructure that mostly anywhere. The organization
Neuroscience Institute, supported its admission, also wanted to standardize
discharge, transfer (ADT) and clinical processes, provide caregivers
New Jersey’s first comprehensive financial processes, and different with clinical decision support, and
solutions were in place from better measure and enhance
stroke center. In addition to a hospital to hospital. To meet its patient outcomes.
children’s hospital, cardiovascular enterprisewide mission to deliver
high-quality, safe and affordable Atlantic Health created its first
center and cancer center, the healthcare, Atlantic Health application-based strategic plan,
partnered with McKesson to with medication and patient safety
health system includes a host implement a broad range of improvement topping the list.
of support services and systems, including an electronic
health record (EHR) solution. “Our No. 1 goal is patient safety,”
residency programs. With the new systems in place, says Trish O’Keefe, RN, chief nursing
Atlantic Health has not only officer, Morristown Memorial.
connected and standardized “We focused on performance and
care across its system, but process improvement to improve
also improved patient safety, quality, reduce the potential for
reduced costs and enhanced adverse drug events, and enhance
its revenue stream. patient care.”

2. At a Glance Answers error-prone transcription practices
For more than 15 years, Atlantic — saving nurses valuable time
Organization now spent caring for patients
Health and McKesson have enjoyed
Atlantic Health a unique relationship. The health
Morristown, N.J. system has been a McKesson CPOE also has improved access to
beta partner and an early adopter patient clinical data and decision
– Health system with eight major
of multiple McKesson products. support tools — one of Atlantic
facilities including Morristown
It has helped design, build, test Health’s key goals. Order sets are in
Memorial Hospital, Overlook
and implement key business and place and evidence-based clinical
Hospital and Goryeb Children’s
financial solutions. protocols are being developed to
Hospital
promote best practices, expedite
– 1,197 licensed beds order entry and enable clinicians to
So when it launched its aggressive
– 63,000 inpatient visits clinical and medication safety more easily follow safe medication
initiative, Atlantic Health turned practices, including weight-based
– 148,000 emergency visits
to McKesson for a powerful solution dosing formulas for pediatric
– 580,000 outpatient visits patients.
set including Horizon Clinicals®
and capabilities from McKesson
Solution Spotlight Automation for nursing Care at the bedside is safer and
documentation, computerized better. McKesson’s nursing
– Horizon Admin-RxTM
provider order entry (CPOE), documentation system with
– Horizon Business InsightTM automated triggers helps nurses
medication administration, clinical
– Horizon Clinicals® alerts, pharmacy robotics, and more. meet regulatory requirements
Although the full technology rollout for assessing pain, fall risk, skin
– Horizon Expert OrdersTM
won’t be complete for another breakdown and more. Nurses
– Horizon Meds ManagerTM also use a point-of-care system
two years, positive changes are
– HorizonWP® Physician Portal already apparent. to electronically scan bar-coded
wristbands and medications, helping
– Pathways Contract
For example, the integration of to ensure “five rights” checking
ManagementTM
Horizon Expert OrdersTM, McKesson’s before patients receive medications.
– PatientCompassTM
CPOE solution, with the pharmacy
– Practice Partner® has reduced medication processing “McKesson’s medication
time. The CPOE system helps administration solution has
– RelayHealth® secure online improved our care environment,”
communication service physicians follow best practices
when selecting therapies and says O’Keefe. “Every inpatient unit
– ROBOT-RX® has embraced it, and nurses feel
doses, while the pharmacy system
– STARTM Patient Accounting supports pharmacists’ ability to it has made a marked change
provide appropriate medication in their practice. Our patients
therapies for patients. Clinical alerts welcomed it, too. It’s tangible
proactively notify physicians of evidence of our commitment
patients whose clinical condition to safety.”
changes. A pharmacy order
imaging system has accelerated In addition, O’Keefe credits
retrieval of scanned physician orders technology such as Horizon Business
and improved prioritization of InsightTM, which provides real-time
STAT orders. And, pharmacy system performance improvement analytics
integration with the electronic and feedback, with playing a
medication administration record key role in Morristown Memorial
has eliminated repetitive and achieving MagnetTM designation.

3. Using data provided in the system’s With solutions such as patient At a Glance
executive dashboards, managers accounting, contract management
Critical Issues
can continuously monitor where and RelayHealth’s Web-based
they stand or need to improve. account management service – Lack of systemwide application
that enables online transactions, infrastructure
To connect with its physician the health system works more – Patient safety
community, cut costs and ultimately efficiently and improves revenue
– Lack of connectivity and
create EHRs shared across both the cycle management.
communication across the
inpatient and outpatient settings,
care continuum
Atlantic Health deployed Practice Future plans include
Partner®, McKesson’s ambulatory implementation of Horizon – Caregiver satisfaction
EHR, and the financial and clinical Enterprise Revenue ManagementTM, – Inability to measure and
interactive services of RelayHealth®. which will streamline workflow affect outcomes
To date 500 physicians have signed while enabling informed decision
– Inability to track patient interest
on to RelayHealth. making, automated necessity
in services
checking and coordination of care.
“We offer RelayHealth to physicians “We expect the system to help
as a tool to enhance patient care,” us automate many of the manual Results
says Reed. “Some are skeptical at financial processes that currently
– Reduced medication error rate
first, but when they see how it can exist,” explains Nancy Kaminski,
to less than 1% (CPOE live units)
transform their office, improve director of patient financial services.
patient communication and reduce “We’ll also have a single database – Achieved 95% medication
costs by moving everything online, tied with Horizon Clinicals®, which administration scan rate
they welcome it.” will tighten the revenue cycle so – Reduced medication processing
we collect every dollar we’re time by 40%
Patients love RelayHealth because entitled to collect.”
– Connected 500 physicians on
they can communicate with their
the RelayHealth network
physicians at their convenience, The patient experience will be
receive lab results and referrals enhanced with Web-based – Provided 10,000 patients
online, and renew medications registration, e-statements and financial and clinical interactive
easily. Ten thousand patients are online account management. services through Atlantic Health’s
now registered users. The program virtual information exchange
has been a key consumer marketing Atlantic Health also maintains powered by RelayHealth
effort as well, with a section of provider and facility information – Decreased days in A/R to 39
the company’s Web site featuring through McKesson’s call center
– Enhanced ability to track
RelayHealth access. application. Call center
marketing outreach and
representatives can seamlessly
monitor physician search trends
Reed believes RelayHealth is the research information for
perfect catalyst to create anywhere, prospective patients, including
anytime information access for both medical specialty, education,
patients and physicians. “Eventually, office location, board certification,
everyone will have a personal portal hospital affiliation and insurance
with e-bank, e-shop and e-health plans. In keeping with Safe Harbor
components. We want to be a dot laws, a random listing of providers
on that portal.” is rotated after referral activity.
A Web solution offers patients a
Atlantic Health has experienced class and screening registration
financial improvements as well. service, with detailed information

4. “From everyone’s perspective, on programs such as hospital – The combination of CPOE, an
services, health screenings, and enterprise pharmacy system and
our long relationship health education seminars. automated central dispensing
Detailed reports enable hospital have reduced medication
with McKesson has been
management to assess and processing time during peak
terrific … It’s a partnership improve demand for services. usage by an average of 40%
all about improving Future plans also include deploying – More than 60% of Atlantic
an enterprise visibility system to Health’s physicians use McKesson’s
patient care.”
improve day-to-day hospital physician portal, a Web gateway
efficiency and manage patient that provides secure access to
throughput. Using large, electronic important inpatient and
Linda Reed, RN, MBA “whiteboards,” the system will outpatient data from across
display data from clinical, ADT, the health system
Vice President/
environmental services, transporter
Chief Information Officer and other systems against the – Physicians say CPOE helps them
hospital’s floor plan, enabling enter orders more efficiently
Atlantic Health caregivers and managers to respond 80% of the time
more quickly and adjust as needed.
– 500 physicians and 10,000
Results patients are connected for
Implementation of McKesson clinical and financial interactivity
technologies has helped Atlantic through Atlantic Health’s virtual
Health become more competitive, information exchange powered
improve medication safety through by RelayHealth
a closed-loop process, reduce costs
and enhance revenue efficiencies — – Days in accounts receivable (A/R)
all while streamlining the patient have been reduced to 39
experience and increasing safety
across the continuum of care. “From everyone’s perspective, our
Results include: long relationship with McKesson has
been terrific,” Reed says. “There’s
– For each patient care unit live open communication, a willingness
on bar-code scanning, nearly 95% to hear what’s of concern, and we
of medications are now scanned both work hard to drive that
before administration to patients change together. It’s a partnership
all about improving patient care.”
– In areas where CPOE is live,
the medication error rate is
less than 1% per month.
Residents use the technology
to enter 90% of their orders
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HorizonWP, Practice Partner, RelayHealth and ROBOT-RX are registered trademarks of McKesson Information
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