KANSAS CITY, Mo. and PHILADELPHIA, Feb. 19, 2009 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Albert Einstein Healthcare Network, a private, not-for-profit healthcare system serving the greater Philadelphia area, is taking steps to improve patient care by implementing multiple healthcare information technology (HIT) solutions from Cerner Corporation (Nasdaq:CERN). The technology provided by Cerner will create a unified electronic medical record (EMR) for each of the more than 550,000 patients that visit Einstein hospitals and outpatient facilities each year. The Cerner Millennium(r) solutions will allow doctors and nurses to electronically document care in the patient's record, access research about medical best practices, automate hospital processes in multiple departments, and connect medical devices to the EMR.
"Implementation of Cerner Millennium solutions will provide doctors and nurses throughout the Albert Einstein Healthcare Network with access to evidence-based knowledge that will help them provide better care to patients," said Barry Freedman, Einstein President and CEO. "Our clinicians will be able to access up-to-date patient information and medical best practices at our hospitals and outpatient facilities."
Cerner Millennium solutions automate hospital clinical, financial and management processes. The Cerner Millennium healthcare computing platform provides secure access to an individual's EMR at the point of care and organizes information to meet the specific needs of care providers, front- and back-office professionals and consumers.
The Cerner Millennium solutions will benefit Einstein patients by allowing doctors and nurses to:
* Access a unified patient EMR for all Einstein sites, that has up-to-the-minute information about the patient including past visits, lab results, radiology images and data gathered from medical devices connected directly to the EMR; * Reduce the chance for medication errors for patients through barcode-medication administration and pharmacy management systems; * Improve patient safety by providing protocols designed to improve clinician knowledge and prevent medical errors; and * Identify opportunities to improve treatment practices by analyzing aggregated data from the EMR.
"The goal of this collaborative project between Cerner and Albert Einstein Healthcare Network is to improve care for patients by using a proven, evidence-based system to facilitate communication and decrease potential sources of error," said Trace Devanny, Cerner president. "Cerner is proud to work together with Einstein to provide a clinical information system that will help improve patient care and outcomes."
Cerner and Einstein will work together on a collaborative project that will continuously transform how care is provided to Einstein patients. Cerner Millennium Lighthouse solutions will be leveraged to optimize the way clinicians do their jobs, yielding better patient outcomes and a safer patient experience. In addition, Cerner and Einstein will use the Cerner Millennium Lighthouse solutions to make new discoveries and quickly develop new innovations by mining the wealth of information found in the EMR. These new findings, along with the latest healthcare advancements, then can be rapidly infused into the Cerner Millennium EMR, benefiting Einstein clinicians and patients. Cerner and Einstein plan to publish their findings to bring greater awareness to the power of technology-enabled clinician workflows.
Einstein will be using Cerner Millennium solutions to automate clinician documentation in the EMR and processes in the patient registration and scheduling, critical care, emergency, surgery, pharmacy and laboratory departments. The Cerner Millennium solutions also will be used to connect medical devices to the EMR, automate medication-administration process through barcode verification, and to identify opportunities for clinical, operational, financial and regulatory improvement. Einstein will use the Cerner Remote-Hosting Option to provide predictable, uninterrupted connectivity and system support for its Cerner Millennium solutions and data.
About Cerner
Cerner is taking the paper chart out of healthcare, eliminating error, variance and waste in the care process. With more than 6,000 clients worldwide, Cerner is the leading supplier of healthcare information technology. The following are trademarks of Cerner: Cerner, Cerner's logo, Cerner Millennium and Millennium Lighthouse. Nasdaq: CERN. For more information about Cerner, please visit our Web site at www.cerner.com.
About Albert Einstein Health Network
Albert Einstein Healthcare Network is a 1,200 bed integrated delivery network serving the communities of North Philadelphia and Montgomery County, PA. Einstein combines the best of academic medicine and community service, employing nearly 7,000 people, and offering training programs for physician residents and fellows, nurses and other health professionals. The Network provides healthcare services through the Albert Einstein Medical Center and Einstein at Elkins Park hospitals, its MossRehab and Belmont Behavioral Health divisions, Germantown Community Health Services, Willow Terrace (a nursing home), Willowcrest (a center for subacute care), outpatient facilities such as Center One and Einstein Neighborhood Healthcare, network of primary care and specialist practices throughout the community. For more information, visit www.einstein.edu or call 1-800-EINSTEIN.
This release contains forward-looking statements that involve a number of risks and uncertainties. It is important to note that the Company's performance, and actual results, financial condition or business could differ materially from those expressed in such forward-looking statements. The words "will", "goal" or the negative of these words, variations thereof or similar expressions are intended to identify such forward-looking statements. Factors that could cause or contribute to such differences include, but are not limited to: the possibility of product-related liabilities; potential claims for system errors and warranties; the possibility of interruption at our data centers or client support facilities; our proprietary technology may be subject to claims for infringement or misappropriation of intellectual property rights of others, or may be infringed or misappropriated by others; risks associated with our recruitment and retention of key personnel; risks related to our reliance on third party suppliers; government regulation; and, failure of the parties to achieve the intended benefits. Additional discussion of these and other factors affecting the Company's business is contained in the Company's periodic filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The Company undertakes no obligation to update forward-looking statements to reflect changed assumptions, the occurrence of unanticipated events or changes in future operating results, financial condition or business over time.