It's in Their DNA: Avera Health Uses Pharmacogenomics, MEDITECH EHR to Drive Precision Medicine

WESTWOOD, Mass., Feb. 7, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- When a 2013 study suggested that pharmacogenomics, the study of how genes affect an individual's response to medication, could be used to improve the quality and safety of patient care, MEDITECH customer Avera Health (Sioux Falls, SD) made the commitment to transform paper-oriented workflows at their state-of-the-art human molecular genetics laboratory, Avera Institute for Human Genetics (AIHG). Avera's IT Committee realized the importance of leveraging their MEDITECH Electronic Health Record (EHR) for pharmacogenomics, and have used a three-phased approach for their improvement project—documentation, ordering, and clinical decision support alerts.

Avera's clinical integration team implemented processes that incorporate pharmacogenomics into the clinical workflow, putting valuable genetic information in front of providers at the point of medication ordering.

In addition, by automating pharmacogenomics into the clinicians' workflow, Avera has enabled providers to:

• Order the patient's optimal pain medication at the outset
• Reduce medication side effects
• Improve treatment success
• Contribute to shorter lengths of stay.

"Avera Health is proud of our efforts in leveraging the MEDITECH EHR to incorporate pharmacogenomics right at the provider's fingertips for improved workflows and advanced patient care," Chief Medical Information Officer of Avera Health, Kim Jundt, MD said. "We value our partnership with MEDITECH in providing the highest quality of care to our community."

For Avera, one of the most important aspects of preemptive testing was to have an alerting process in place for providers who will treat the patient during future care episodes. Rules created in MEDITECH's CPOE solution flag the provider based on the results of the patient's pain genotyping panel. In addition, a "duplicate order" alert informs the provider that the patient has already had pain genotyping, and the once-in-a-lifetime lab test is not needed again.

"By leveraging the power and clinical sophistication of the MEDITECH EHR, Avera is transforming and improving the quality and safety of patient care," MEDITECH Associate Vice President of Marketing, Christine Parent said. "We're proud to partner with this progressive healthcare organization in providing the actionable data needed to impact clinical decision making."

For more information on how Avera converted pharmacogenomic results to actionable data for clinical decision making, download MEDITECH's new case study, "It's in Their DNA: Avera Health Drives Precision Medicine at the Point of Care."

About MEDITECH
Today, more than 2,400 institutions worldwide use MEDITECH's clinically-integrated and interoperable EHR to provide healthcare to the communities they serve. Their robust, patient-centered technology spans the healthcare continuum, including unique functional capacity for ambulatory care, acute care, long-term care, rehabilitation services, behavioral health, and home care.

Contact
Paul Berthiaume
Senior Manager, Marketing Communications
MEDITECH
781-774-5742
[email protected]

SOURCE MEDITECH