KANSAS CITY, Mo. and CHICAGO, April 3, 2009 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Mercy Hospital & Medical Center, Chicago's first hospital, is now also one of Chicago's most automated hospitals. Mercy was recently recognized as being in the top 0.5 percent of hospitals in the United States for its use of electronic medical records (EMRs) by the Healthcare Information Management and Systems Society (HIMSS), an organization that provides leadership on the use of healthcare information technology (HIT). Mercy used the Cerner Solutions Center to implement 21 Cerner Millennium(r) HIT solutions in 14 months, allowing it to quickly achieve a level of automation that takes most hospitals seven years to realize.
Although it typically takes hospitals seven years to reach this level of automation after launching an EMR project, Mercy was able to do this in just 14 months by automating processes throughout the hospital with HIT solutions from Kansas City, Mo.-based Cerner Corporation (Nasdaq:CERN).
"Mercy is dedicated to ensuring our patients receive the highest-quality of care available," said Sister Sheila Lyne, RSM, Mercy president and CEO. "Our investment in Cerner Millennium solutions throughout the hospital allows us to improve patient safety and quality of care."
Mercy's decision to implement Cerner Millennium(r) solutions has helped the hospital improve patient care in a number of ways. By using Cerner Millennium solutions, Mercy has been able to:
* Reduce illegible, handwritten orders from doctors; * Reduce adverse drug events that can be harmful to patients; * Improve communication between physicians by using a standardized set of orders to define patient care processes; * Reduce the turnaround time from when a medication is ordered to when it is given to the patient; and * Reduce the turnaround time from when a laboratory order is placed to when the results are ready for physician viewing.
HIMSS developed the EMR Adoption Model to track EMR implementation and usage in U.S. hospitals and health systems. The EMR Adoption Model ranks hospitals on a scale of zero to seven based on their use of HIT to create a paperless patient record environment. Mercy was recognized by HIMSS as a Stage 6 hospital, a recognition bestowed to less than 0.5 percent of U.S. hospitals and health systems. To achieve State 6, Mercy uses Cerner Millennium solutions to:
* Document care and submit orders in the EMR; * Automate processes in the emergency, laboratory, pharmacy, radiology and surgery departments; * Connect medical devices like patient monitors and anesthesia gas monitoring devices directly to the EMR; and * Create a closed-loop medication administration process - electronically entering medication orders and electronically verifying that the medication has been administered correctly to the patient.
"One of the most remarkable aspects of Mercy's EMR journey is that they were able to achieve this level of automation in just 14 months," said Mike Valentine, Cerner executive vice president and general manager, United States. "By using the Cerner Solutions Center to plan and manage its healthcare information technology implementation, Mercy was able to draw on lessons learned from thousands of previous Cerner Millennium implementations to drive a remarkable transformation in hospital operations and care delivery in matter of mere months. According to HIMSS, it typically takes hospitals seven years from an initial EMR launch to reach the level of automation found at Mercy."
The Cerner Solutions Center allows Cerner clients to envision, design, build and deploy Cerner solutions by utilizing a standardized scope and project tools, providing a structured, disciplined, predictable implementation experience. The Cerner MethodM(r) modular implementation methodology draws upon proven practices from thousands of past implementations to deliver projects with discipline, predictability and efficiency.
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 Millennium and Cerner MethodM and Cerner's logo. (Nasdaq:CERN). For more information about Cerner, please visit our Web site at www.cerner.com.
About Mercy Hospital & Medical Center
Mercy Hospital & Medical Center, Chicago's first teaching hospital, has been serving the city for over 157 years. Since its founding in 1852, Mercy has continued the Sisters of Mercy's tradition of ministry to all those in need, regardless of circumstances, as lived by their foundress Catherine McAuley. Mercy provides a broad spectrum of health care services appropriate to the needs of, and accessible to, the people in the many communities it serves. Mercy's medical residency program, which is affiliated with the University of Illinois and the University of Chicago, trains over one hundred residents each year in Internal medicine, OB/GYNE, and Podiatry, including independent residencies in Emergency Medicine, Surgery, and Radiology
Mercy Hospital is home to one of the Midwest's leading Heart & Vascular Centers, named a Top100 hospital for cardiovascular services by Thomson Healthcare, a designated Stroke Center, a Comprehensive Breast & Women's Health Care Center, a Center for Weight Management, and a leading Emergency Center that includes the Higginbottom Urgent Care for Kids Unit. Mercy's ideal location, just minutes south of the loop, is easily accessible by all main arteries. And at Mercy, patients and visitors will find convenient, free parking.