Wishard, Regenstrief Institute Partnership Earns National Association's President's Award

INDIANAPOLIS, June 28 /PRNewswire/ --The National Association of Public Hospitals and Health Systems (NAPH) delivered one of its highest honors to one of its largest members.

Wishard Health Services, the nation's third-largest safety-net health care system in outpatient visits, and the Regenstrief Institute, Inc., an internationally respected medical and public health informatics innovator, earned the NAPH 2010 President's Award for Health Reform Readiness and Leadership.

"We are grateful to NAPH for this tremendous honor recognizing the longstanding and mutually beneficial partnership between Wishard and Regenstrief," said Lisa E. Harris, M.D., chief executive officer and medical director for Wishard Health Services and a Regenstrief investigator. "Our cutting-edge work has informed health information technology across the globe and has generated more than 300 peer-reviewed research papers by Regenstrief investigators, all of which describe improvements in the quality, efficiency, effectiveness and safety of care provided here at Wishard. At the heart of it all, our partnership improves care for patients here at Wishard and around the world who benefit from the advances we make in health information technology."

The award for Wishard and Regenstrief's collective improvement of health care effectiveness, quality, safety and efficiency through the use of health information technology was presented to the two organizations yesterday at the NAPH Annual Conference in Denver.

The Wishard-Regenstrief partnership has produced groundbreaking work that provides the foundation for electronic medical record systems in use around the globe. Accomplishments include:

• An enterprise-wide health information network that includes comprehensive data for each outpatient, emergency and inpatient site
• A secure comprehensive patient-oriented electronic health record that contains all data from each patient encounter
• A utility through which providers can access information for individual patients in a format that enhances understanding of patients' conditions and the care received
• A cadre of data managers and analysts capable of providing clinical leaders and administrators with summary data to support decision-making
• A computer-based order-entry system used at all Wishard sites
• A decision-support system providing reminders and care suggestions to providers either as part of paper encounter forms or electronically through the order-entry system
• A decision-support system to improve individual health care decisions
• A system that provides patient data to intervention teams when those at high risk for adverse events are identified

These advancements have resulted in improvements that include reducing redundant outpatient test orders, the time needed from admissions to the first drug administration, and adverse drug events and medication errors; lowering hospital costs; increasing the frequency of discussions about advanced care directives; and facilitating collaborative patient management.

"We have long been very proud of the leading-edge research and education generated through the Wishard-Regenstrief partnership, and today's recognition from one of the most respected health care organizations in the country reinforces that pride," said Paul Dexter, M.D., Regenstrief investigator and Wishard's chief medical information officer and director of clinical applications. "More than anything, this honor is a testament to the work we have done and its role in improving the quality of health care for people in need here in Marion County and throughout the world."

More than 30 years ago, Wishard was one of the first hospitals in the United States to develop and utilize electronic medical records. Just last year, through the Wishard-Regenstrief partnership, Wishard's fleet of 25 ambulances became the first emergency medical services agency in the world to be equipped with new electronic medical record technology, allowing paramedics and emergency medical technicians the ability to obtain vital patient health history by accessing their hospital medical records on the scene.

"Wishard Health Services is an outstanding example of a core public safety-net health system that is also one of the most innovative systems in the country, public or private," said Larry S. Gage, President, NAPH.

SOURCE Wishard Health Services