Can we expect other changes in patient care?
As the United States enters an era of transformation in health care delivery, hospitals are redesigning the way they provide patient care. For our health system, care model redesign is being guided by the principles of perfectly executed care by the right people at the right time. We’re ensuring the most qualified person is closest to the patient to provide perfect care and reduce duplication — all at the lowest cost. It’s about streamlining the way we provide inpatient care and also offering ambulatory services outside of the hospital to help patients manage chronic disease and stay healthy.
What’s the role of digital patient records?
Electronic medical records, or EMRs, are critical to patient quality and safety. EMRs place a patient’s full medical history onto computers and information systems, which allows clinicians to better coordinate care through immediate access to patient data. This maximizes clinical quality through real-time decision support at points of decision-making and also eliminates most paper used in patient documentation. Paper records can slow care and create environments that are ripe for error. Efficient electronic care delivery prevents unnecessary orders and diagnostic tests, reduces medical errors and improves patient quality, safety and health. MemorialCare is among a small percentage of hospitals nationwide to implement fully integrated medical records linking inpatient, emergency and outpatient patient records at all our major sites.
How can employers help ensure quality care for their work force?
Learn about the steps hospitals and physicians are taking to improve health care in your community. Do they have best practice teams design and implement best practice tools, offer education and monitor outcomes and opportunities for further improvement? Are clinical outcomes documented and, if so, easily accessible? Have or will they shortly be implementing comprehensive electronic medical records in inpatient and ambulatory settings that interface with affiliated physicians? How intensive is their focus on supporting a strong culture of patient safety and vigilance? What procedures have they implemented to reduce hospital acquired infections and risk of complications? And what awards and recognition have they received for quality and safety performance?
BARRY ARBUCKLE, Ph.D., is president and CEO of MemorialCare Medical Centers (www.memorialcare.org) and past chair of the California Hospital Association. Reach him at [email protected] or (562) 933-9708. The not-for-profit MemorialCare Health System includes Long Beach Memorial Medical Center, Miller Children’s Hospital Long Beach, Orange Coast Memorial Medical Center in Fountain Valley and Saddleback Memorial Medical Center in Laguna Hills and San Clemente. For additional information on excellence in health care, please visit memorialcare.org.
