LEIPZIG, GERMANY – (HealthTech Wire / News) – HIMSS Analytics Europe announced today that it has approved three European hospitals Stage 6 on its Electronic Medical Record Adoption Model (EMRAM) scale, who will be recognised at HIMSS Europe's forthcoming CIO Summit in Geneva, 20-22 November 2011. Azienda ULSS 18 Rovigo (Local Healthcare Authority), Italy, Hospital Clinic I Provincial de Barcelona, Spain and Inselspital, Bern University Hospital, Switzerland have all achieved the accolade – the second highest rating on the EMRAM scale. Last month University Hospital of Hamburg-Eppendorf, Germany, became the first European hospital to achieve Stage 7 – the top rating.
- Azienda ULSS 18 Rovigo (Local Healthcare Authority), Italy; Hospital Clinic I Provincial de Barcelona, Spain; Inselspital, Bern University Hospital, Switzerland; have achieved the second highest rating on the EMRAM scale.
- EMRAM scale tracks EMR progress in hospitals and healthcare systems
- "EMRAM helps hospitals understand, benchmark and advance their IT solutions."
Launched in 2005, the EMRAM scale was devised to track EMR progress in hospitals and healthcare systems. It identifies and scores them using an eight-step scale (0-7), helping chart the path to a fully paperless environment.
EMRAM Stage 6 is awarded when hospitals have achieved all requirements of previous stages and a hospital-wide closed-loop medication administration (CLMA) environment and Clinical Decision Support in at least one inpatient care service area.
“The EMRAM helps transform healthcare through IT by helping hospitals understand, benchmark and advance their IT solutions,” said Uwe Buddrus, CEO, HIMSS Analytics Europe. “For a hospital to achieve Stage 6 on the EMRAM scale means that it has successfully tackled some key challenges in the adoption of electronic medical records.”
'A deep level of integration with clinical sub-systems'
The inspectors found that that Italy's Azienda ULSS 18 Rovigo (Local Healthcare Authority) was not only able to fulfil all requirements for Stage 6, but that it at the same time demonstrated “a deep level of integration of various clinical sub-systems from a variety of vendors with its central EMR solution”.
ePrescribing is in place at the hospital for all medications, software-assisted preparation for all critical medications and barcode scanning of every patient is in place for administration and bedside documentation in the electronic medication administration record (eMAR). The hospital was also singled out for its exemplary use of codification and scaling systems to generate discrete data elements driving clinical decision support system (CDSS) functionalities.
Hospital Clinic I Provincial de Barcelona also fulfilled all requirements for Stage 6 and was found to have ePrescribing, second line validation, ADM dispensing for ICU medications, and bedside documentation in the eMAR for standard meds. Its implementation of CDSS for thoracic pain patients was singled out for being particularly outstanding.
Inselspital, meanwhile, while meeting all Stage 6 criteria, demonstrated that it had CLMA, including barcode scanning, in place for critical meds and had implemented bedside administration documentation infrastructure, though this was not yet used by all nurses in all wards.
The Inselspital has also implemented a self-developed clinical decision support system for stem cell transportation, whereby physician documentation and diagnostic data trigger different pathways.
The hospitals will be recognised for their achievements at an official European Award Ceremony at the HIMSS Europe CIO Summit in Geneva, 20-22 November 2011.
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Source: HIMSS Analytics Europe via HealthTech Wire
