BAPTIST HEALTH Uses Real-Time Clinical Surveillance from Thomson Reuters to Lower Costs and Improve Quality in th...(lityand length of stay and avoiding the ...),Health

"CareFocus has been a tremendous asset to our organization and is a great example of how information technology is improving our delivery of care," said David House, vice president and chief information officer at BAPTIST HEALTH. "This solution places the powerful clinical information we have in our system into a single, easy-to-use format and allows our clinicians to be more responsive to patient needs. The idea was to identify at-risk patients faster, allowing our clinicians to intervene earlier, lower costs and improve outcomes. CareFocus enables us to do that."

BAPTIST HEALTH uses 100 CareFocus profiles across the system, broken out into 273 rounding lists. The pharmacy uses 37 of these profiles and has integrated them with Micromedex Healthcare Solutions drug reference information, another Thomson Reuters' offering, for a complete quality improvement solution.

Due to the initial success in the pharmacy, BAPTIST HEALTH has deployed the remaining profiles across several departments including infection control, case coordination, stroke center, nutrition and food services, nursing, and respiratory care.

"With CareFocus, our pharmacists are more efficient and have a more significant impact on patient care," said Tonya Robertson, Pharm.D., BCPS, pharmacy clinical coordinator for BAPTIST HEALTH Medical Center-Little Rock. "For example, we are using it to improve hospital vaccination rates, identify patients needing renal dose adjustments, and find opportunities to provide more cost-effective medications."

"CareFocus adds an extra safety net to guard our patients against adverse events from medications," adds Becky Layes, Pharm.D., pharmacist coordinator at BAPTIST HEALTH Rehabilitation Institute. "It places the information of our patients -- who might be at increased risk of havi
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