Evaluation of Information Systems in Health Care (300 points)

As the new Director of Information Management, you have been tasked with implementing a new clinical information system for pharmacy services at the hospital. The hospital would like to purchase a pharmacy system that will enable physicians to automate orders through Computerized Physician Order Entry (COPE) in hopes of reducing order delays, improving the legibility of orders, streamlining operations, and ultimately improving patient safety by reducing medication errors. In spite of previous efforts, there has been little movement towards the implementation of the COPE, and selecting and putting the COPE into operation are main reasons that you have been hired.

The organization has competent and dedicated hospital leaders who are strongly supportive of the COPE concept, demonstrating a sound commitment to its implementation. There are also physician champions dedicated to implementing the COPE and actively involved in influencing other staff physicians to accept the COPE. These physicians are also ready to facilitate workflow issues involved in using the new system.

This project is comprised of five (5) parts. Refer to the following guidelines, notes, and summaries as you prepare your response. Your Stand-Alone Project responses should be both grammatically and mechanically correct and formatted in the same fashion as the project itself. If there is a Part A, your response should identify a Part A, etc. In aIDition, you must appropriately cite all resources used in your response and document them in a bibliography using SPA style. (300 points) (3 graphical displays, a 15-slide presentation, and an 11–13 page response are required for the combinations of parts A, B, C, D, and E.)

Project Planning Meeting Notes

1. Positives/Advantages for New Information System Implementation
   1. Strong leadership and executive support
   2. Focus on improved clinical practice
   3. Physician support
   4. Leading technological hospital in the metropolitan area
2. Key Issues Discussed
   1. Current hospital focus on patient safety
   2. Desire to significantly reduce medication errors
   3. Interest in standardizing medication ordering processes
   4. Need for improved workflow processes in pharmacy services
   5. Must have a positive impact on hospital efficiency

• Staffing Issues
  1. Wide-ranging; various professional groups will be impacted
  2. Highly knowledgeable information system staff
  3. Currently a pleasant and comfortable work environment for staff
  4. Concerns of adequate training and assistance available for all involved clinical staff

1. Possible Disadvantages or Obstacles
   1. Rising costs of resources
   2. Limited budget constraints due to previous commitments
   3. Lack of time for user training
   4. Knowledge base within nursing and allied health professions
   5. New technology and staff attitude towards changes
   6. Physician and clinical staff level of comfort with technology
   7. Some area hospitals already have COPE
2. Vendor Requirements
   1. Must be committed to the COPE market
   2. Commitment to a long-term relationship with the hospital
   3. Product maturity – time vendor has been developing COPE products
   4. Ability to measure hospital efficiency through COPE data
   5. Costs for implementing the system

Vendor Summaries

Vendor #1: Med Safe Implementations

• Headquartered in Amply, NY
• First introduced in 1998
• $38 billion in annualized operating revenue
• Serving over 23,000 customers
• Data analysis for improved outcomes – enable health care providers to mine data collected via COPE software
• Recognized for technology in health care to reduce medication errors
• Initial implementation costs of $1.2 million with $25,000 per year maintenance
• Average implementation 1.5 years
• Local customers include, Children’s Hospital of Amply, Sacred Holy Christian Hospital of Amply
• Provide on-site staff training

Vendor #2: Start Right Technologies

• National office in Sacco, SC
• A leading software vendor in the health care bioinformatics industry for 15 years
• Serve many organizations to include hospitals, ambulatory care centers, physicians’ offices, and long term care facilities
• $42 billion in annual operating revenue
• Automatically transmit orders to the pharmacy and patient’s medical record
• Software provides alerts to allergies and other potential dangers during the ordering process
• Electronic Signature capability – physicians can sign verbal orders and view results from any computer
• Order process is integrated to instantly compare formulator data against a patient’s record
• Patient and drug information is presented to the physician at the time of ordering
• Order sets can be based upon physician preferences
• Software provides dose checking, calculator, and other conflict checking
• Historical patient information is displayed when ordering new medications
• Staff-intensive training, off-site
• Initial implementation costs are $1.8 million with minimal yearly maintenance costs