Jun 19, 2002 5 min read

Uniontown Hospital has announced that it will soon implement the first phase of a new clinical information system (CIS), which ultimately will gather patient medical information from all clinical areas and integrate that data into one permanent electronic medical record. In development for almost a full year, the new CIS system will replace the current system on July 1.

The new CIS system has been designed by Cerner, the nation’s leader in medical information systems and software technology, in conjunction with some of the leading hospitals in the nation such as the Mayo Clinic.

It is recognized as the most advanced clinical information system available.

When the system goes live on July 1, Uniontown Hospital will be the first hospital in the nation to have simultaneously implemented all 19 Cerner patient information modules in one location.

It will join only a handful of hospitals in the nation, who have implemented a clinical information system on a hospital-wide basis.

This will be the largest information technology project ever undertaken in Fayette County.

With such a massive installation, the hospital is anticipating some temporary inconveniences to occur in the early stages of implementation during the first few weeks of July.

The registration process is one area that the hospital anticipates minor delays.

This is due to the fact that only a limited amount of patient information in the current system will be transferred to the new clinical information system.

“Most demographic information, including health insurance policy numbers, will have to be re-entered in the new system,” said Kathy Simpson, director of registration at the hospital.

“It is very important that all people coming to the hospital for services after July 1 bring their current valid health insurance cards so we can process their claim smoothly and accurately.”

She also indicated that, due to the initial delay, patients coming to the hospital for services should arrive about 45 minutes prior to the time their test or service is scheduled.

In anticipation of these delays, the hospital will be increasing the number of registration stations by 50 percent for the first four weeks following the implementation date of July 1.

Hospital officials said this should help to alleviate these temporary problems.

For the same reason, extra registration clerks will also be stationed in the emergency services department.

The hospital wants to thank all patients in advance for their patience and support through this implementation period.

One way the hospital is expressing that gratitude is through sponsorship of four separate weekly drawings for four separate $250 gift certificates for all patients who register for services during each of the first four weeks of system implementation, beginning July 1. The gift certificate can be selected for Lowe’s, Wal-Mart, Shop ‘n Save or the Uniontown Mall. More details will be provided in the near future.

To complement the extra staff being assigned to most hospital departments, hospital volunteers will also be assisting patients in the process.

Additionally, representatives from the Cerner company will also be on hand to assist with any technical glitches if they occur.

According to Steve Handy, senior vice president and project executive for the implementation, hospital employees should be ready for the new system.

“In addition to the development team’s extensive work done to build the system at Cerner’s headquarters in Kansas City, we trained almost 1,000 hospital employees in its use and operation,” Handy said.

“This has been accomplished through the development of 60 separate training courses offered a total of 400 different times for almost 1,000 employees, which ultimately means a total of over 20,000 training hours were devoted to the successful implementation of the new system,” Handy said.

According to Linda Vivian, director of information technology, the new system is a “patient centric” system.

Vivian explained that this simply means that all clinical information associated with any given patient is centered and organized around that particular patient in an electronic medical record.

This is different from most hospitals that currently maintain separate non-integrated information systems for each clinical service (such as lab, X-ray, etc).

The new system will incorporate 10 different clinical information modules.

These information modules will cover virtually all of the clinical functions within the hospital.

After implementation, Uniontown Hospital will be one of the select few hospitals in the nation, which have all clinical functions integrated into one system.

As a highly integrated clinical information system, the system will centralize all patient information, providing an instant medical history on the patient.

The new system will also free up caregivers to provide more hands-on care by reducing paperwork and provide additional layers of patient safety by cross checking patient information, particularly for patient drug interactions.

Paul Bacharach, the hospital’s president and chief executive officer (CEO), said, “We look at the implementation of the clinical information system as a quantum technological leap to the future that will significantly enhance and improve our ability to provide for the health care needs of the people throughout the region.”

“This advanced data system will allow physicians and other healthcare providers alike to access current, clinical patient information on a real-time basis, while protecting the privacy and confidentiality of patient records,” he added.