JRMC is one of first in country to comply with “meaningful use” criteria for EHRs

PINE BLUFF--Normally hospitals aren’t thought of as a travel destination for visitors from around the U.S. and foreign countries.

But Jefferson Regional Medical Center (JRMC) has become one of the first hospitals in the country to qualify for stimulus funds by complying with meaningful use criteria for Electronic Health Records (EHRs). That successful effort to improve patient care is attracting a lot of attention.

JRMC President & CEO Walter Johnson said rather than follow along and add technology from time to time, JRMC decided to embrace an entirely new approach to EHRs that increases efficiency, improves access and exchange of clinical information, enhances quality and outcomes and reduces the likelihood of medical errors.

“We knew it would be a major undertaking, but we also believed the payoff would be monumental, as it has been,” Johnson said. “Now, even most larger hospitals are behind us from an information technology perspective. There are many misconceptions about Pine Bluff and Southeast Arkansas, and this one initiative demonstrates that. We have a great healthcare system, including physicians, hospital, and the entire medical community. We have demonstrated what can be done when everyone works together toward a common goal and a clear mission.”

JRMC has been serving the community for more than 100 years, and now is leading the state, the nation and to some degree the world in implementation of EHRs, said JRMC Assistant Vice President and Chief Information Officer Patrick Neece.

Neece is happy to talk to other healthcare professionals both in Arkansas and elsewhere about what JRMC has learned and how its patients have benefited from the hospital’s adoption of EHRs.

“Other facilities visit JRMC to discuss our EHR, learn the benefits of this system, why we selected this product, and how we configured and implemented the solution,” Neece said. “We are always willing to answer questions or have discussion with other facilities.”

JRMC, a 471-bed acute care hospital, has hosted visitors from dozens of distinguished U.S. healthcare organizations including Baylor University in Texas, New York University and Bronx-Lebanon Hospital Center in New York. Visitors have even come from as far as Australia, Singapore, the United Kingdom and the Southern United Arab Emirates.

“Typically what we do, we take visitors through and show them what the Allscripts Sunrise system we have is capable of,” Neese said. “It gives them an idea of the workloads built into the system, and how it works.”

With several hundred EHR vendors out there, healthcare providers are looking for help selecting a system that will be the most efficient, easy to use and cost effective.

“We encourage them to do a thorough needs assessment,” Neece said. “Look at the clinical, financial and operational needs, and what problems they are trying to solve. Then they really need to understand their time frame. How quickly are they trying to use the product?”

Also look at the platform. What technology does it run on? And is that growing and emerging in the marketplace, or on its way out?

“You have to be careful you don’t get into a situation where you have a product and company that might not be able to keep up with the changes in healthcare,” Neece said. “You must have a flexible enough system to make changes if you need to implement new workloads.”

Evaluate your resources, and then decide if you want to host the equipment and software entirely or outsource some of those things. And make sure the company is certified for meaningful use.

Neece recommends instead of looking for software that may be best in class in a certain clinical area, instead look for a vendor who provides good integrated solutions.

JRMC has been working toward adoption of EHRs for eight years. It was recently approved for about $3 million in American Reinvestment and Recovery Act incentives funds. Neece said JRMC surpassed every one of the extensive set of criteria that eligible hospitals and physicians must achieve in order to receive the stage one funding.

“This milestone is a significant accomplishment for JRMC’s clinicians and for our patients, who will benefit from the enhancements and changes in workflow and processes made during our journey of becoming meaningful users of an advanced electronic health record,” Neece said. “We are extremely proud of this accomplishment, which is the result of a multiple-year strategy.”

The criteria are designed to improve quality, safety, and efficiency, and reduce disparities in healthcare. Other important goals are working to engage patients in their own care, improving care coordination when patients move from one setting to another, improving population and public health, and ensure privacy and security protections for personal health information.

Leah Wright, RN, a member of JRMC’s clinical informatics team, said the EHR system directly impacts patients by improving access to patient information and making the exchange of that information easier between all members of the healthcare team.

“There is no searching for charts,” Wright said. “The information is all entered into a mobile bedside computer. The physician can see all tests that have been ordered, all diagnostic results, comments from other physicians, and the patient’s entire medical history. In fact, the physician can do all that from his or her office, home, or hotel room anywhere in the world. There is also less duplication and less room for mistakes, which saves the patient time and money, and assures them that they are receiving the most accurate care possible.” 

Each patient room is equipped with a computer, and each floor also has a fleet of COWs (Computers on Wheels) that can be rolled from room to room.

The new system has brought a whole new meaning to the term bedside care.

“Everything from doctor’s orders to lab and radiology results are entered electronically into the patient’s file, often right from the patient’s room, and all healthcare providers who access the file can see the most current information,” said JRMC Chief Nursing Officer and Vice President of Patient Care Services Louise Hickman. “All of the patient’s key clinical data is compiled into that one file.”

The EHR is integrated with all the vital sign monitors so the information flows into the patient’s chart automatically.

“With one click, the vitals are there, and they are available again every 15 minutes,” Hickman said. 

Use of EHRs for administration of drugs helps prevent errors.

“If you are a patient at JRMC, you will be identified in your room by scanning your armband, and we can instantly see all your medication information,” said JRMC Administrative Director of Information Systems Andy Jenkins. “If a nurse is getting ready to administer morphine, for example, and morphine has not been prescribed, an alert will fire to the user at the bedside during the administration process. That all happens in real time, averting the possibility of potentially dangerous mistakes.”

JRMC has duplicated all its EHR technology at a second location outside the city limits, which can be accessed in the event of an emergency or natural disaster.

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