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By Mark Moore, President and CEO
Bloomington Hospital
Bloomington, Ind.
An IT Strategy Out of Sync with Our Patient-Centric Mission
For more than a century, Bloomington Hospital has served the communities of south-central Indiana as a not-for-profit, regional referral center with a reputation for clinical excellence, innovation and collaboration.
Rapid growth in our first 100 years brought high-quality medical care to our patients. But as we grew, we failed to integrate our technology, so it was difficult to share patient information electronically across departments and hospitals. When I joined Bloomington Hospital in 2002, the issue was clear: our department-driven IT strategy was out of sync with our patient-centric mission and vision.
A System-wide Approach
We needed a different approach. We knew we had to align IT across the organization to create an integrated delivery system that would advance quality and safety, rein in costs and expand services.
Our goals were to:
 Synchronize disparate systems
Create a common framework to assimilate patient information
system-wide
Provide fast, easy access to that information
Improve care quality and coordination
Increase medication and patient safety
Reduce costs
Because IT was a fundamental component of every goal, we opted for an enterprise-wide design and implemented McKesson's comprehensive suite of clinical, financial and connectivity solutions. In record time, our solutions were up and running.
Creating a Patient-Centric Framework
Now we've leveraged that technology to transform Bloomington Hospital from a disparate collection of departments and hospitals into a truly integrated, patient-centric delivery model. In the process, we've significantly improved safety, coordination and access to information across our continuum of care.
Our clinicians can identify patients seen at our facilities and centrally store data at each encounter — everything from medication administration and Emergency Department reports to radiology and cardiology images. With quick and easy access to comprehensive information, caregivers make faster, more informed decisions. Nearly 800 physicians, nurses and clinical staff log in to our clinical portal every day.
Patient care is much more efficient. One of our most dramatic improvements is in radiology, where turnaround times have dropped from two days to less than four hours.
Improving Safety and Satisfaction
Our efforts to improve medication management and safety have resulted in significant benefits to the staff and patients.
Closed-Loop Medication Management — Another leap forward is our migration from manual drug distribution to a fully automated, online, real-time process via a closed-loop medication workflow. Every step – from ordering drugs to administering them – is now safe, effective and efficient.
Safer Medication Order Entry Process — Fax imaging and an enterprise pharmacy information system have improved the pharmacy order process. Transcribed orders that are faxed to the system are digitally manipulated for optimal clarity. Order entry is safer because pharmacists are now alerted to potential drug therapy issues. Medications are available only after a pharmacist reviews the orders to ensure safety and regulatory compliance.
Reduced Medication Errors and ADEs — Medication errors and adverse drug events (ADEs) have been greatly reduced. We recently achieved a significant safety milestone: our nurses check patient ID bands 100% of the time prior to administering medications.
More Time at the Bedside — There's another big payoff as well: Nursing and pharmacy have developed a much closer relationship and now work as a cohesive team. Improved turnaround time has freed nurses to spend more time at the bedside.
CPOE Expansion
Currently, our two hospital locations, in Bloomington and Paoli, Ind., use an order management and Emergency Department solution to equip physicians with computerized provider order entry (CPOE) capabilities in their EDs. Plans are in the works to expand CPOE use system-wide, which will enable us to implement clinical decision support and alerts for pharmacy, radiology and laboratory.
Quality, Safety, Efficiency
Bloomington Hospital's fully integrated IT system now aligns with our mission — to provide comprehensive, high-quality, cost-effective and caring services to the people of south-central Indiana. Health IT also supports our vision to become a leading hospital in Indiana. Here's how:
Patient care is better.
- Diagnosis and treatment are faster and more accurate
- Wait times, turnaround times and repeat tests are down
- Staff and caregivers are happier and more productive
Patient care is safer.
- Medication errors are down 75%
- Omitted doses have decreased 98%
- Wrong doses have decreased 48%
- Wrong drugs have dropped 67%
Patient care is more efficient.
- Annual patient revenues are up by $15 million
- Monthly pharmacy costs are down by $50,000
- Electronic auditing capabilities found $1.6 million in lost charges
- Radiology costs fell by 95%
- Days in A/R dropped from 75 to 55
Outstanding people with innovative ideas, the alignment of strategies and technology, and a shared dream enabled our successful transition to an electronic healthcare community for our patients. We will build on this strong foundation for years to come.
Bloomington Hospital is a winner of McKesson's 2009 VIP Award. Each year McKesson recognizes customers that demonstrate vision and innovation in the use of information technology to enhance healthcare performance.
Since 2002, Mark Moore has served as President and CEO of Bloomington Hospital. He is responsible for the oversight of all facets of the healthcare system, including Bloomington Hospital, a regional referral center for south-central Indiana; and Bloomington Hospital of Orange County, a critical access hospital in Paoli, Ind. Prior to coming to Bloomington, Moore built his career with Community Hospitals in Indianapolis where he served in various senior-level administrative roles, including Chief Operating Officer. Moore is a fellow with the American College of Healthcare Executives, where he received the organization's Senior-Level Healthcare Executive Regent's Award in October 2007.
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