Trinity Health Annual Report 2008

Rural Hospitals Connect with
Electronic Health Records
In the sparsely populated plains of northern Iowa, seven small
hospitals made history with the installation of electronic health
records, transforming the way health care is delivered in rural areas.
The seven remote facilities – each with less than 25 inpatient beds
– are now digitally connected with computerized physician order
entry (CPOE) and other clinical systems via a regional network
spanning 70 square miles.
The integrated system is the first of its kind in a U.S. rural health
care setting. While larger hospitals are more likely to have electronic
health records, less than 3 percent of the nation’s small or rural
hospitals (50 beds or less) tout a fully implemented system.
The pioneering implementation was facilitated by two grants from the
Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ). Trinity Health
and its member facilities partnered with Hancock County Memorial
Hospital, county public/community heath agencies and the University
of Iowa College of Public Health to implement the program.
The network will serve as a model for future EHR implementations
in rural settings.
Hospitals With e-Health Records
Safer, Faster, Better Care
Trinity Health is transforming quality and reducing costs
by putting the power of the latest computerized clinical
tools in the hands of our caregivers. These state-of-the-art
tools automate processes that are still often done with
paper and pen at the majority of U.S. hospitals.
The majority of our hospitals are now using health
information technology applications that include
computerized physician order entry, electronic health
records, nursing documentation with wireless devices,
paperless charts in the emergency department,
adverse drug event alerts and more.
As a result, nurses have more time at the bedside
for personalized care, medications are given to
patients faster, errors are avoided, and costly
duplications are eliminated. These benefits are
made possible in a variety of ways:
• Electronic health records replace much of the
paper that passes between departments and
between those providing care. Patient information
is at the caregivers’ fingertips wherever there is
computer access. If a patient ever has a need
to return to a Trinity Health hospital, our clinical
staff can immediately and securely access their
medical history. And since illness doesn’t always
happen during office hours, a Trinity Health-affiliated
doctor can access a health record using secure,
password-protected Internet access, at any time.
• Online orders for tests and treatments mean no
handwritten prescribing in the hospital. Physicians
enter their orders directly into a secure system
where they can be quickly accessed by the
patient’s care team. Instructions are easily
In a Battle Creek Health System OR, an anesthesiologist and
CRNA use Surginet to document all pre-, post- and intra-operative
activity into the patient’s electronic health record.
read, automatically checked and sent to the right
departments, so that care is delivered sooner.
• Charting care at the bedside is done by nurses and
other clinicians on portable computers, making it
immediately available online to physicians or other
authorized caregivers. This feature gives the nurse
more time with the patient.
• Automatic “checks” to ensure appropriate medication
and dosing helps take away the possibility of human
error. The system automatically checks a patient’s
prescribed medications against lab results and other
key information. With the large numbers of new
medications available annually, caregivers and
patients appreciate this additional “safety net.”
Industry studies have shown that hospitals using
computerized clinical systems greatly improve the
quality and safety of care, as well as improve patient
registration, streamline the billing process and
boost financial performance.
2003 May Mercy Hospital – Port Huron
2005 February Battle Creek Health System
April St. Joseph’s Healthcare, Clinton Township
July Mercy Medical Center – North Iowa
September Mercy Medical Center – Sioux City
2004 July Mercy Health Partners, Muskegon
October Saint Mary’s Health Care
2006 February Mercy Medical Center – Dubuque
Mercy Medical Center – Dyersville
March St. Mary Mercy Livonia
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