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Computerized Provider Order Entry
(CPOE) and Electronic Health Record (EHR) solutions are important drivers of the healthcare
IT industry. Extending the use of CPOE to the ambulatory space, ACPOE, the Center for
Information Technology Leadership (CITL) published findings
on the potential savings from the use of advanced CPOE
(including clinical decision support) for medication,
laboratory and radiology orders, $44 billion annually
in the United States.
In 2004, Dr. David Brailer was appointed to the position
of the National Coordinator for Health IT and announced
his goal for an interoperable EHR within 10 years. Within
3 months, Dr. Brailer published A Framework for Strategic
Action, which laid out a roadmap towards development of
a national EHR through the development and interconnection
of regional health information organizations (RHIOs).
In The Framework, Brailer defines the EHR as "A real-time
patient health record with access to evidence-based decision
support tools that can be used to aid clinicians in decisionmaking."
Medicalis solutions provide the information technology
infrastructure and clinical applications with decision
support to enable effective deployment of CPOE and EHR
solutions in diagnostic healthcare.
Diagnostic
Imaging in Canada (requires subscription)
A. Laupacis, W. Evans, Healthcare Papers. 2005; 6 (1):
8-15.
Imaging
for Whom: Patient or Physician? (requires subscription)
R. H. Gottlieb, American Journal of Roentgenology, December
1, 2005; 185(6): 1399 - 1403.
A
Framework for Strategic Action
David J. Brailer, US Department Of Health & Human
Services, 2004
It's
All in the Evidence: Decision Support in Radiology
Lisa Fratt, Health Imaging & IT, March 1, 2004
The
Value of Computerized Order Entry in Ambulatory Settings
Center for Information Technology Leadership (CITL),
2003
In 1999, the Institute of Medicine (IOM) published the To Err Is Human report which estimated that as many a 98,000 people in the US die annually from medical errors. Continuing work from the IOM such as Crossing the Quality Chasm and other work from organizations such at the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, the Leapfrog group and the National Quality Foundation have all outlined the many benefits of information technology in the improvement healthcare quality.
A widely known issue in Canadian healthcare is the time required to access care, the wait time. In 2004, the First Ministers committed to the dual objectives of better management of wait times and the measurable reduction of wait times where they are longer than medically acceptable. Industry associations and all levels of government have since been cooperating to benchmark and chart progress on wait times.
Diagnostic imaging was identified as one of the first five health care areas for investigation, and benchmark research is underway. In parallel, Medicalis is working with the federal government and the Canadian Association of Radiologists to reduce wait times for imaging through the use of radiology order entry and decision support. In cooperation with the province of Manitoba and the Winnipeg Regional Health Authority, Medicalis solutions are being deployed at the Children's Hospital of Winnipeg to improve radiology ordering workflows and reduce unnecessary testing, thereby increasing access to critical services.
Taming
of the Queue III
Clement, Tony, Canadian Minister of Health Speech,
March 30, 2006
Benchmarks
to Accountability
Sibbald, Barbara, CMAJ, February 28 2006
Waiting
for Health Care in Canada (requires registration)
Canadian Institute for Health Information (CIHI),
2006
It's
About Time
Wait Time Alliance (WTA), 2005
Wait
Time Alliance - Primer
Wait Time Alliance (WTA), 2005
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