Uniontown Hospital using technology to improve care
The Rev. Matthew R. Brozovich (left) watches Dr. Joseph Labuda (right) demonstrate how he uses and iPad device to record patient visits.
Christy Kitta, a registered nurse, uses a scanning device to read the bracelet worn by the Rev. Matthew R. Brozovich. New technology in use at Uniontown Hospital has allowed for more accurate recording-keeping of a patient's stay.
Paul Bacharach, president and chief executive officer of Uniontown Hospital, talks about future goals and challenges during and open board meeting Thursday morning at the hospital.
Doctors at Uniontown Hospital can study a patient’s history and order medication and testing at electronic speed using new computer technology.
A computer system installed in late May through the hospital’s clinical advancement project (CAP) allows doctors to receive test results and prescribe orders on Ipads or laptop computers, preventing nurses from having to decipher written orders.
“I can see what I need to see and act on it,” Dr. Joseph Labuda said as he checked a patient’s records on his Ipad during a visit to one his patient’s rooms to demonstrate the new electronic medication administration record (EMAR) system after the hospital’s board of directors annual public meeting on Thursday.
If a nurse calls about a problem with a patient, Labuda said he can access the secure EMAR system on his Ipad from his home or office anytime to access the patient’s records and send in orders to address the problem.
As with all new technology, there was a bit of a learning curve, but Labuda, who has been a member of the hospital’s staff for 24 years, said EMAR allows him to treat patients faster and more efficiently than was possible with paper records.
The EMAR system is used in the hospital’s pharmacy, emergency and X-ray departments.
Electronically entering information about a patient in the emergency department makes admitting that patient faster and easier, said Betty Rock, vice president of nursing, who added that 80 percent of the hospital’s patients are admitted through the emergency department.
While Labuda prefers an Ipad, he said some doctors are using laptops and notepads.
All doctors can access EMAR on the desktop computers on the hospital floors, he said.
His Ipad doesn’t store records, so patient information couldn’t be obtained if the unit was stolen, Labuda said.
He said the site that stores the information is secure and doctors have to use a security code to access the site.
Nurses use handheld scanners to scan digital codes imprinted on wristbands that are placed on each patient to access medical records and add information such listing any medication they gave the patient, said Dr. Linda Burstynowicz.
EMAR issues alerts when the patient whose wristband is scanned isn’t the patient named in the record and when medications or dosages don’t match, said Burstynowicz, who spent the last year and a half setting up the system.
Updates the board received on EMAR and other advancements at the hospital were countered by a gloomy forecast for the hospital’s primary source of revenue.
Paul Bacharach, hospital president and chief executive officer, said 78 percent of the hospital’s revenue comes from Medicare and Medicaid, and the federal government is proposing a slight decrease in Medicare reimbursements and the state budget has reduced Medicaid funding.
The proposed Medicare reductions could reduce payments to doctors by 25 percent, which could result in doctors relocating to hospitals in areas with populations that are less dependent on Medicare and Medicaid, Bacharach said, adding that Medicare did not increase what it reimburses doctors this year.
“It makes it very difficult to keep up with our patients’ needs,” Bacharach said.
He said computed tomography (CT) scanners and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) units last five to seven years and the hospital tries to replace a CT scanner or an MRI unit every year, but the reimbursement cuts would make it difficult to update equipment.
The reduced reimbursements forced the hospital to lay off 25 non-medical employees in June.