Denver Health and CDC to Collaborate in Study in Ambulatory Setting
MALVERN, Pa., Oct. 2 /PRNewswire/ -- Siemens Medical Solutions announced
that it will collaborate with Denver Health and the Centers for Disease
Control (CDC) to conduct a study on the effectiveness of electronic patient
records (EPR) and clinical decision support systems on tuberculosis (TB)
screening and prevention. The study is designed to validate that clinical
guidelines can be standardized to incorporate an electronic workflow, thereby
identifying and treating in an ambulatory setting those exposed to a high-risk
disease. Denver Health was selected as the first test site as it serves large
populations that may be at high risk for TB, and is already equipped with
advanced key healthcare information technologies from Siemens.
"The use of EPRs provides a powerful new mechanism for disseminating and
integrating all types of clinical guidelines at the point of care. Research
indicates that guideline compliance by healthcare providers is greatly
enhanced when the relevant information is provided automatically during a
patient encounter," explained Floyd Eisenberg, M.D., physician consultant at
Siemens Medical Solutions Health Services Corporation.
Siemens EPR technologies at Denver Health include the Lifetime Clinical
Record(R) (ranked in the top four of a recently published KLAS survey on
healthcare computer data repositories and acute care electronic medical
records), providing a longitudinal view of the patient's entire clinical
history, a rules-based engine that provides alerts and reminders and allows
for online documentation. All of these components are essential for this
study. "These three elements are critical to the success of the study. We're
able to leverage our existing technology, and integrate all of it seamlessly
to provide automated reminders about TB risk factors to our physicians and
other care providers," noted Andy Steele, M.D., director of medical
informatics for Denver Health.
Beginning with the patient registration process, "trigger" factors such as
country of birth and homeless status will automatically cause the rules engine
at Denver Health to check the Lifetime Clinical Record to determine if the
patient is at risk for TB. An alert then prints out for the physician to
refer to during the patient exam, prompting them to access a computerized
guideline template and fill out the documentation to order a TB test
screening. The physician can also link directly to the CDC Web site for more
reference information on the guidelines, and can then present treatment
options and next steps.
The TB rules have already begun to provide Denver Health with baseline
data. "When we recently ran the first patient overview report, we identified
85 different countries of patient origin, approximately 25-30 percent of which
were at high risk for TB," Dr. Steele said. The study will continue as
physicians start seeing the alerts beginning in November.
Frank Lavelle, president and chief executive officer of Siemens Medical
Solutions Health Services explained, "Denver Health is an ideal site for
determining the effectiveness of this screening and prevention program, and
can serve as a model for biosurveillance systems to other care providers
nationwide. This project will help to establish a methodology for using
technology to assist in implementing nationally accepted, sequential
guidelines to improve clinical workflow, which will then serve as a basis for
managing patient risk-based surveillance."
TB is a contagious respiratory disease contracted through airborne
transmission. While the general adult population in the U.S. is not at risk
for TB and is not required to take regular TB skin tests, the CDC supports
early identification of those populations at high risk. Denver Health has
been nationally recognized for its TB screening programs, and one of its staff
members was a contributor to the national CDC guidelines.
Denver Health integrates acute hospital and emergency care with public and
community health, and includes the Rocky Mountain Regional Trauma Center,
Denver's 911 emergency response system, Denver Health Paramedic Division, 10
family health centers, 12 school-based centers, the Rocky Mountain Poison
Control and Drug Center, Correctional Care, Denver CARES, Denver Public
Health, the Denver Health Foundation and the Denver Health Medical Plan.
Siemens Medical Solutions of Siemens AG (NYSE: SI) with headquarters in
Iselin, NJ and Erlangen, Germany, is one of the largest suppliers to the
healthcare industry in the world. The company is renowned for its innovative
products, including imaging systems for diagnosis, therapy equipment for
treatment, hearing instruments, and critical care and life support systems, as
well as a wide array of information technology and data management solutions
that optimize workflow and increase efficiency in hospitals, clinics and
doctors' offices. The company is known as the premiere health information
application service provider processing more than 133 million transactions
daily and managing more than 67 terabytes of data -- twice the information
volume of the Library of Congress. Employing approximately 30,000 people
worldwide, the company reported sales of 7.2 billion EUR, orders of 8.4
billion EUR and EBITA of 808 million EUR in fiscal 2001 (September 30). More
information can be obtained by visiting us on the Web at
http://www.siemensmedical.com.
Siemens AG, headquartered in Munich, is a leading global electronics and
engineering company. It employs some 450,000 in 193 countries, and reported
worldwide sales of more than $74 billion in fiscal 2001 (10/1/00 - 9/30/01).
The United States is Siemens' largest market, with nearly 80,000 employees and
sales of $18.9 billion for fiscal 2001. For more information about Siemens in
the U.S., visit http://www.usa.siemens.com.
Press releases issued are available on our web site at:
http://www.usa.siemens.com/press/
SOURCE Siemens Medical Solutions
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Related links:
http://www.usa.siemens.com
http://www.siemensmedical.com
http://www.usa.siemens.com/press
CONTACT:
Christine Foy of Siemens Medical Solutions,
+1-610-219-3163, Christine.foy@smed.com; or Sara Spaulding of
Denver Health, +1-303-436-6606, Sara.Spaulding@dhha.org
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