2011 Nursing Annual Report - FINAL.pub - South Shore Hospital

Global Issues in Nursing & HealthcareAs the American health care delivery system has entered a new era that includes stricter utilizationguidelines, lower reimbursement rates, and a greater emphasis on quality of care, the challenges ofcaring for an increasingly older patient population, ever‐changing insurance requirements, and theeffort needed to satisfy today’s technology savvy patients, all require health care organizations tofocus on performance improvement initiatives — including investing in technology — to improvethe quality of patient care.In 2010‐2011, several colleagues participated in a fieldwork study project in order to assess the extentof interoperability in the South Shore Hospital (SSH) provider networks and to develop a replicablemetric for assessing progress over time. At issue is a more efficient, safe, and improvedhealth delivery system. SSH strives to be a community leader in making this elevated level of connectivitypossible. The ultimate goals of South Shore Hospital are to: promote higher quality, morecost‐efficient and patient focused care, promote patient safety, improve the population and communityhealth, and demonstrate cost savings through interoperability. This “Study of Utilizationand Significance of Interoperability in the Care of Heart Failure Patient” presented metrics and produceda starting point from which to work.Community interoperability between South Shore Hospital and nearby providers is essential toimprove the health of the people in the surrounding area. Improvements in safety and increasedquality of care are dependent on gaining full access to patient data from all providers of care acrossthe continuum. Access to real time information would allow providers to make real time treatmentdecisions knowing the recent and current clinical picture of the patient. For example, administeringa diuretic sooner in the care path may lead to shorter length of stay and improved outcome for theheart failure patient. Expansion of connectivity with greater access to key medical criteria is criticalto maximize the potential benefit of interoperability.South Shore Hospital has made substantial investments in electronic health record (EHR) technology,but full access to patient data can only be achieved through the electronic sharing of patientspecificinformation with providers across the continuum of care. This sharing would lead to a moreefficient, safe, and improved health delivery system which can only be accomplished through realtimedata sharing. Members of the fieldwork team concluded that the creation of a central electronicrepository to capture clinically relevant data with reporting capabilities to assist clinicians inimproving timely interventions would lead to the achievement of health metric goals.5