Vocada: Study Shows Communication Weaknesses in Clinical Information Systems; Fails to Fix Weak Link in Patient Care
Shown to be poor sub for Critical Test Result Management
DALLAS, TX, July 30, 2007 - A recent professional journal article shows that patient safety is poorly served when hospitals and clinicians rely on massive, complex clinical information systems to deliver critical test results (CTRs), according to Vocada, Inc., which led the development of technology-based critical test result management (CTRM).
Vocada's Veriphy™ solution for CTRM remains the industry leader, although other companies now have products in development.
Writing in the July/August issue of Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association, author Hardeep Singh MD, MPH, and his colleagues looked at the effectiveness of an electronic medical record (EMR) system for CTR notification at the VA medical center in Houston. Although the authors feel the automation of CTR reporting is desirable, the results of the study show the inadequacy of EMR systems for critical test result management (CTRM). The authors found:
Providers failed to acknowledge receipt of over one-third (368 of 1,017) of transmitted alerts.
In 45 of these cases (4% of abnormal results), the imaging study was completely lost to follow-up four weeks after the date of study.
View a summary of the article at http://www.jamia.org/cgi/content/short/14/4/459.
Hospitals and clinicians are increasingly relying on EMR systems, picture archiving and communication systems (PACS), radiological information systems (RIS), and Laboratory Information Systems (LIS) to improve efficiency in delivering patient care.
Dr. Brian Gale, director of Radiology at Kings County Hospital Center in New York City, said, "As the adoption of comprehensive hospital information systems grows, there is a misconception that these IT "Swiss army knives" solve the problem of communicating critical test results because the systems often include an electronic notification feature for CTRs."
"Unfortunately," he said, "this may provide a false sense of security, because these systems often don't include other key CTRM features such as a message escalation system to use when the primary ordering physician is unavailable."
The medical profession and hospital industry all recognize that failures and delays in communicating CTRs is a serious problem and a weak link in the delivery of patient care. For some physicians, such as radiologists, communication breakdowns are a major generator of medical malpractice claims.
Technology-based CTRM is being used by a growing number of hospitals across the country to ensure the timely communication of CTRs by reporting clinicians, such as radiologists and Clinical Labs, to ordering clinicians who are responsible for patient care decisions. Using CTRM, hospital administrators also are able to set standards for communication of CTRs and monitor performance in real time.
Dr. Gale, who also is director of radiology informatics, SUNY Downstate Medical Center, said, "Electronic notification is not the same as CTRM. The adverse results reported in this journal article are less likely to occur with an effective CTRM system."
As described in a new educational video produced by Joint Commission Resources, Inc., the educational affiliate of the Joint Commission, a genuine CTRM system does much more than automates message delivery. It also:
Verifies the receipt of the message
Escalates notifications based on pre-set rules
Automates tracking, documentation and compliance with legal and professional standards
Enables real-time management oversight of CTR communications
"There's a lot of confusion and misunderstanding in the market place, leading to the perception that the productivity and work flow systems such as PACS, RIS, and LIS take care of the CTR problem, but it's not true," said Tom White, executive vice president and co-founder of Vocada. "In fact, a number of medical information technology companies recognize the difference and are partnering with Vocada to offer CTRM by integrating our solution with their systems. There's still only one CTRM solution on the market - Veriphy by Vocada."
Several medical information technology companies including AGFA, Nuance Dictaphone, and Commissure have integrated Veriphy into their productivity and workflow systems in order to address the need for CTRM.
Vocada, Inc.
Vocada's Veriphy™ critical test result management solution is the only enterprise solution for communicating critical test results from hospital diagnostic departments to ordering clinicians. Using a patented, hosted system, Veriphy™ automates and verifies communication of critical test results in a real-time, assured and trackable solution, simultaneously enhancing patient safety and boosting clinical staff productivity. The privately held, Dallas-based company was founded by brothers Peter and Thomas White, who were previously involved with other innovative and successful technology ventures. The company introduced its first product, VoiceLink™, predecessor to Veriphy™, in 2004. For more information, visit http://www.vocada.com.
MEDIA CONTACT: GREG GRAZE, 214-680-7893, OR E-MAIL greg@grazepr.com