Web-based Referral and Triage System Saves Lives, Time and Money

Highlights

• Systematic, Coordinated Referral, Prioritization and Scheduling of Acute Coronary Syndrome Patients. To develop a centralized, coordinated system for the referral, prioritization, management and scheduling of patients with ACS from non-tertiary facilities, staff from within the Queensland Central Area Health District’s tertiary facilities implemented a computer-based solution linked to a Web-based referral interface. The Web-based referral system links eight referral sites with two tertiary centers and is utilized by the Queensland Clinical Coordinating Centre (Queensland Ambulance Service) for the transportation of patients from rural centers.
• Average Transfer Time Decreased from 3.7 days to 1.8 days. The Queensland Clinical Coordinating Centre (Queensland Ambulance Service) accesses up-to-date information regarding the priority, medical needs and transportation requirements of patients as entered by referring and tertiary facilities. One tertiary facility experienced a decrease from 3.7 days to 1.8 days in average time to transfer.
• Enhanced Education at Referral Sites. Through the entry of specific clinical data into “Form 1” of the referral system, referring-site clinicians have gained a greater understanding of the requirements for cardiac assessment and the ACS guidelines used within Australia. The clinical details entered into this form are reviewed by the Cardiac Consultants at the tertiary facilities to more clearly identify the condition and priority of the patient being referred.

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Full-Cycle Integration: Automatic Data Flow from Order to Discharge – King Abdulaziz Cardiac Centre

Highlights

• Full-Cycle Integration of Data and Images. Connected systems transmit Orders, ADT, scheduling, results and physician report information to and from the electronic medical record (EMR), modalities, devices, the Apollo™ clinical data repository— automatically and seamlessly.
• Interoperability Between Best-of-Breed Systems. KACC elected to use a vendor-neutral system to connect their assorted applications and devices. Vendor neutrality enables each clinical area’s best-of-breed system to communicate with others.
• Clinical Information More Accessible and More Accurate. Patient data is fully integrated and readily accessible for review at any time during the care cycle. Additionally, because data is no longer entered multiple times into multiple systems, greater accuracy is ensured.
• More Time with Patients, Less Time Managing Data. Integration has enabled crucial data to auto-populate multiple fields in formerly unconnected systems across the Cardiac Centre. This accelerates the physician reporting process and liberates clinicians from manual data entry so they can devote more time to patient care..

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Integrating Images and Data at the Point of Care Enhances Productivity at Tanner Health System

Highlights

• Quality Care Across a Growing Service Line. The cardiovascular service lines at Tanner Health System have long been committed to providing top-quality care in a wide range of specialties. As their services have grown, so has the need for sophisticated image and data management tools.
  
• Integration of Images, Data. Given high patient volumes, the goal of Cardiac Services at Tanner is to provide their doctors with comprehensive patient data at the point of care. In an effort to integrate clinical information and streamline workflows, Cardiovascular Services implemented LUMEDX’s CardioPACS™ multi-modality imaging and CardioDoc™ physician structured reporting solutions.
• Enhanced Productivity. Images are immediately available for viewing, analysis and inclusion in the final report, improving efficiency and productivity.

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Impeccable Data and Collaborative Spirit Support Successful Quality Model

CV Service Line Sets the Standard for Enterprise-wide Programs at Rockingham Memorial Hospital

Highlights

• Registry Participation a Cornerstone of Quality Improvement. To track outcomes and improve care, Rockingham Memorial Hospital Heart and Vascular Center participates in numerous registries, using the LUMEDX Apollo system to automate data collection and submission.
• Quality Initiatives Lead to Multiple Successes. After instituting a comprehensive quality model, the Heart and Vascular Center has achieved significant success: lower door-to balloon times, improved Core Measures scores, improved Get With The Guidelines scores and more.
• Heightened Spirit of Collaboration. The Heart and Vascular Center included physicians, clinicians and staff from across clinical areas in the development of quality programs. This has led to a heightened spirit of collaboration and a renewed sense of purpose.
• Adoption of Heart and Vascular Center’s Quality Model by Hospital as a Whole. Because the Center’s quality model has led to visible, quantifiable improvements, hospital administration is now adapting this model for other departments.

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Using ACC and STS Data to Improve Quality at Parkview Heart Institute

Supporting JCAHO Accreditation, Lowering Door-to-Balloon, Reducing Blood Product Use and More

Highlights

• Door-to-Balloon Times Reduced. Collecting data electronically for the ACC-NCDR® CathPCI Registry® has enabled Parkview Heart Institute to lower door-to-balloon times to well below the national guidelines.
• Blood Product Use Reduced. Data collected in Cardiac Surgery has been used to improve quality and performance in key ways, including reducing blood product usage. This has resulted in a savings of over $200,000.
• Achieved Chest Pain Center Certification and JCAHO Accreditation. Automating data collection has helped the hospital achieve Chest Pain Center certification and patient safety accreditation from the Joint Commission.
• Adverse Outcomes Meetings Open to Entire Service Line.
  By holding monthly meetings open to the entire service line, the Heart Institute has been able to identify areas for improvement and quickly address them.

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St. Luke’s Hospital Minimizes Manual Data Collection with
Clinical Documentation and CathCor Interface

Highlights

• Eliminated Laborious Chart Abstraction and Data Entry. Just six weeks after introducing ClinDoc (Clinical Documentation at the Point of Care) and a CathCor interface to the cath lab, 70% of ACC-NCDR™ CathPCI® fields are populating automatically, obviating the need for time-consuming paper chart abstraction and data entry.
• Well-Planned Implementation. Following the Iowa Health approach to LUMEDX implementations—well-planned and wellexecuted system deployments—ensured few disruptions and speedy user adoption.
• Local Control Accommodates Change. Because St. Luke’s has an on-site dedicated system administrator, any changes can be made at the service line level, faster and easier than if the healthcare system’s IT department handled it.
• More Data, Sooner Leads to Better Data, Better Care. Bringing more cath data—and soon EP data—automatically to the database improves the quality of the data itself, facilitating reporting and improved quality of care.

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Quality Data Crucial to Quality Initiatives at Multi-site Healthcare System

Robust Data Repository Supports Streamlined STEMI Protocol, ProvenCare® CABG Program and Clinical Research at Geisinger Health

Highlights

• Easily Managing Multiple Registries for Multiple Hospitals. Two of Geisinger Health System’s three hospitals are now submitting to ACC-NCDR® CathPCI Registry, STS Adult Cardiac Surgery Database, STS Congenital Cardiac Surgery Database and STS Thoracic Surgery Database via their Apollo® Advance clinical data repository.

  Integrating and Converting Nearly Two Decades’ Worth of Data. Geisinger’s cardiovascular (CV) service lines had been using a myriad of custom databases from multiple vendors in multiple versions. Working with LUMEDX, they were able to integrate all their data—over 18 years’ worth—into one single database.

  Supporting Quality and Best-Practices Initiatives. Geisinger runs numerous quality and research programs, including a regional door-to-balloon reduction project and a 40-step CABG best-care project. The Apollo database enables physicians and staff to drill down and analyze their data.

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Physician Web Portal Gives the Cardiac & Vascular Center at St. Peter’s a Distinct Competitive Advantage

Highlights

• Images and Data Available Almost Instantaneously. Clinical data and images are accessible throughout the hospital immediately, facilitating robust physician reports—and best-quality care.
• Physicians Liberated from Location-based Reporting. As part of St. Peter’s enlightened approach to the healthcare enterprise, doctors can access the clinical information they need from any connected location in the hospital or, via the Web, anywhere in the world.
• Technological Innovations Support an Intelligent Business Plan. A comprehensive CVIS combined with a physician Web portal make the Cardiac & Vascular Center an attractive place to work, ensuring excellent physicians and a wide referral base.

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Connecting Silos of Information Results in Best-Quality Care, Makes Best Business Sense

Electronic Scheduling, Inventory and Structured Physician Reporting Improve Access, Streamline Multiple Workflows at the Cardiac & Vascular Center, University of Colorado Hospital

Highlights

• Centralized Database Integrates and Communicates. The goal at University of Colorado Hospital’s Cardiac & Vascular Center is to integrate as much clinical and administrative information as possible so that they can easily push it out to hospital systems. Connecting silos of information enables the hospital to enjoy the highest levels of business efficacy and deliver the highest level of clinical care.
• Scheduling, Physician Structured Reporting and Inventory Management Automated. Moving to automated, electronic systems for scheduling, physician reporting and inventory supports clinical and business goals, both for the Cardiac & Vascular Center and for the enterprise as
  a whole.
  Clinical Data Is Accessible Anywhere. Physicians and others with access privileges can sign on and review cases whether they’re in the EP lab in Aurora, Colorado or waiting for their plane in an airport in Singapore. This improves quality of life for physicians and quality of care for patients.

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Integrated Software Solution Simplifies Registry Submission, Shortens Billing Cycle, Enhances Reporting Capabilities and Reduces Door-to-Balloon Times

Highlights

• Streamlined Data Capture at the Point of Care. By interfacing their Apollo Advance™ clinical data repository to their hemodynamic system, clinical information is entered only once, saving time for staff, reducing chance of error and improving data integrity.
• Top-down Commitment to Data Collection. OhioHealth management understood how important data is to the success of a heart program. Consequently, nurses, physicians and staff at are committed to collecting and analyzing as much data as possible, as soon as possible.
• Reports Reveal Successes, Including a Dramatic Drop in Door-to-Balloon Time. Integrated systems make generating reports easier. Reports help OhioHealth identify areas for improvements, as well as revealing what they’re doing right. After instituting a STEMI Alert protocol, door-to-balloon times at OhioHealth hospitals dropped to under 45 minutes on average.

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The Medical Center of Central Georgia Engineers a Heart and Vascular Institute for the 21st Century

New Building Provides Opportunity for Across-the-Board Process Improvements, Advanced Information Systems and Leading-Edge Care

Highlights

• State-of-the-Art Building with State-of-the-Art Software. When The Georgia Heart Center broke ground on a new building that would house all cardiac and vascular care under one roof, administration, IT and clinicians realized they needed processes and systems just as state-of-the-art as the new building itself.
• Enterprise-wide Commitment to Advanced Technologies. MCCG sees advances in technology as advances in medical care as a whole—from new billing and clinical documentation options to automated registry participation to clinical documentation. All support MCCG’s goal of delivering high-quality, seamless care to its community.
• Process Improvements Integral to CVIS Building and Implementation. In preparation for the opening of the new building, Heart Center staff spent significant time creating workflow schemes and soliciting evaluations from multiple sources. They have used the same methods for building and implementing their cardiovascular information system (CVIS).
• Success in a Highly Competitive CV Market. Over 80 miles from the Atlanta metropolitan area, The Georgia Heart Center pulls patients from all over the state because of its top-quality cardiac and vascular care.

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Heart Institute Introduces New Software to Support Electronic Data Management in Anticoagulation Clinics

Virginia Mason Medical Center Highlights

• Multi-Clinic Integration. Users from all seven clinics have access to patient information and plan of care. This data is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
• Greater Efficiency. The flow of data is streamlined, reducing the average time it takes from initial finger stick to clinical care plan from several days to just over four minutes.
• Enhanced Flow of Data, Improved Patient Safety. Immediate access to complete patient data reduces the risk of incorrect dosing adjustments.
• Prepared for Newest JCAHO Requirements. VMMC is ready to meet new JCAHO requirements for reducing the likelihood of patient harm associated with the use of anticoagulation therapy.

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Real-Time Data Collection Results in Significant Quality Improvements

Mercy Hospital Iowa City Highlights

• Data collection streamlined and integrated into clinical workflow. Resources once devoted solely to chart review and abstraction have been re-purposed. Moreover, data is available immediately; Mercy can run its own reports for review and analysis to identify areas for improvement.
• Door-to-balloon time reduced. Examining their own data has enabled Mercy to reduce their door-to-balloon time from over two hours to well under 90 minutes on average.
• Highly engaged clinicians and staff. Doctors, nurses and staff at Mercy are very aware of what data reveals about care quality. Now they are reaching out to their larger community—hospitals, paramedics, EMTs and other caregivers—to address how they can all work together to improve delivery of care in the region.

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Providing Leading-Edge Care with CardioPACS Multi-Modality, Web-Enabled Imaging

Providence Everett Medical Center Highlights

• Quick Access to Images via Streamlined Image Management. CardioPACS has made images instantly available for retrieval and review, even when they have been archived. Images from disparate legacy systems and across different clinical areas have been pulled into CardioPACS, offering physicians immediate access from single workstations.
• Comprehensive Patient Information at the Point of Care. Because CardioPACS is a multi-modality system, physicians and other clinicians get a comprehensive view of the patient. Doctors can review images from different tests and procedures at one time and thus make better-informed patient care decisions.
• A Modern Workspace. Deployment of CardioPACS digital imaging has allowed the Heart and Vascular Institute at Providence Everett to remove outdated image libraries that had been crowding the hospital. A single storage facility is now used for archived images dating back to 2002.

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CardioSchedule Electronic Scheduling Helps Wake Forest Baptist Maximize Resources, Minimize Chaos and Elevate Patient Care

Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center in Winston-Salem features one of the busiest heart centers in the region. To facilitate communication among its high-volume clinical areas, the Cardiovascular Information Systems department has introduced automated, real-time scheduling.

Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center Challenges and Highlights

• Maintain High Quality Care with High Patient Volume.
  The Heart Center at Wake Forest Baptist draws patients from all over North Carolina and western Virginia. On average, the cardiac catheterization lab (Cath Lab) sees 2500-3000 patients a year; over 2200 electrophysiology laboratory (EP Lab) procedures are performed a year; and 85-100 Echocardiogram (Echo Lab) procedures are performed each day. Despite the high volumes, each patient receives top-quality care, earning the Heart Center national recognition.
• Connect Users and Foster Communication.
  The Cath, Echo and EP labs’ decentralized schedules are viewable throughout the hospital, facilitating crystal-clear communication. Staff and clinicians know where their patients are, when their patients are ready for a procedure and which other procedures the patient has scheduled—all in real time.
• Maximize Resources.
  Since scheduling is shared and accessible to clinicians, schedulers and other staff, labs are able to maximize the number of procedures they perform in a day. Staff and physicians spend less time running around playing catch-up and more time providing excellent care. Additionally, supervisors and managers can view resource-utilization reports for rooms, clinical devices and staff, enabling more effective utilization based on volume tracking.
• Cultivate a Calm, Professional Environment.
  The busiest departments in the Heart Center have transparent, real-time scheduling, and therefore overhead paging is minimal. This contributes to a remarkable level of focus at Wake Forest Baptist: on the procedure, on the diagnosis, on the patient.

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Cardiology Information Systems Provide Iowa Health - Des Moines & Specialty Cardiology Offices with Fingertip Access to Scheduling & Patient Data

Fully integrated systems enhance communication across multiple campuses and offices, supporting continuity of care while maintaining HIPAA compliance

Iowa Health - Des Moines Highlights

• Connecting Remote Users, Sites: Iowa Health - Des Moines' remote users—two campuses with multiple floors, departments, and specialty cardiology offices—seamlessly access the cardiovascular information system.
• Facilitate Communication & Continuity of Care: The cath lab's schedule is shared throughout the campuses, ensuring seamless care. Patients are prepped and ready for procedures on time and the ICU/CCU is prepared post-procedure.
• Facilitate Continuity of Care: Physicians and caregivers can view the patient's full cardiovascular medical record concurrently, ensuring continuity of care.
• Save Time for Physicians & Staff: By giving physician's offices access to the cath lab schedule, Iowa Health - Des Moines has cut down on the number of phone calls to the cath lab.

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Elimination of Transcription Results in Lower Costs, Fewer Delays & Greater Access to Patient Reports

Evanston Northwestern Healthcare Highlights

• Transcription eliminated: Physicians, nurses, and technicians complete patient reports directly in Apollo Advance—ending the cost, delay, and errors associated with transcription
• Reporting integrated into workflow: Data entry follows the unique workflow of each department—data can be interfaced in from the hospital information system, entered by technicians while the patient is prepped and during procedures, and then completed by the physician at case end.
• 24/7 access to patient information: Patient history, procedures performed anywhere in the healthcare system, and current patient reports can be accessed through Apollo, Epic, or CardioChart. This accessibility enables physicians and other caregivers to provide the highest quality care, based on up-to-the-minute patient information.

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Quality Core Groups & IT Initiatives Support Evidenced-Based Medicine & Best Practices

Aurora Health Care Highlights

• Quality Core Groups Drive Improvement Cycles: Aurora's quality core groups ensure research and outcomes results are put into action as best practices at the heart centers. Through quality improvement initiatives, Aurora has cut post-op sternal wound infection in half, improved average door-to-balloon time by 43%, decreased blood utilization by 50%, and much more.
• Multi-City, Multi-Hospital Data Integration: Aurora integrates data from several hospitals in the Aurora System, utilizing interfaces to connect hospital information systems and medical devices to the central database. Data integration allows physicians to access patient reports through the Cerner patient documentation system, and enables quality managers to analyze data from each of the different sites.
• Intelligent, Workflow-Focused Deployment: Aurora rolls out each solution in stages, thoughtfully implementing each piece of the CVIS for smooth implementation across campuses. Solutions can be built upon in the future, such as the addition of wireless tablet technology planned for this year.

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Data Integration & Quality Assurance Programs Reduce Complications & Mortality Rates

Hillcrest Medical Center Highlights

• Lowered Mortality Rates: Hillcrest reduced their Overall Cardiovascular Surgery mortality by 65% and Coronary Bypass Surgery by 67%.
• Pre-risk assessment protocols: The lowered complications and mortality rates can be directly attributed to the concentrated focus on the pre-risk assessment protocols, which enables physicians and nurses to identify high-risk patients and take steps to reduce their risk before surgery.
• Continuing Staff Education: Hillcrest uses Apollo data and reports together with protocols to educate staff and incoming physicians of quality improvement initiatives.
• Physician Credentialing: Hillcrest utilizes Apollo to quickly compile the necessary data for applications for physician credentialing.
• Center of Excellence: Hillcrest used their Apollo database to complete a 27-page application to become a "Center of Excellence" with United Healthcare.

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Montefiore Medical Center Receives Top Honors for Treatment of Life-Threatening Emergencies

Montefiore Medical Center Highlights

• Alliance for Quality Health Care Honor Roll: Montefiore gives patients high quality care in life threatening emergencies. The accessibility of the electronic medical record (EMR) is key to giving physicians a complete picture of the patient's condition in seconds.
• Half a Million Dollar Savings per Year: Using Apollo to monitor and understand inventory has enabled Montefiore to better negotiate with vendors and realize an ongoing savings of $500K per year.
• Capture Missed Charges & Shorten the Revenue Cycle: Montefiore used Apollo to standardize their registration process by capturing insurance, demographic, and procedural information for complete charge capture and billing.

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CHOA Builds a Comprehensive, Customizable Congenital STS Module to Improve Patient Care

Children's Healthcare of Atlanta (CHOA) Highlights

• Evidence-Based Medicine: The Congenital STS Module improves the quality of patient care through the use of STS Registry benchmarks and evidence-based medicine.
• Complete Congenital Solution: By adding 25 additional fields to those defined by STS, Children's has a more complete, patient-focused congenital database.
• Patient Snapshot: Physicians can view procedural, surgical, and demographic data in one place, using Web-based technology.

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Center of Excellence, the Heart Institute of Spokane Continues to Enhance Practice Using Apollo

"In using Apollo, our vision was to work with the physicians to track information that would directly and significantly improve their practice"

For over 40 years, breakthrough innovation and vigorous leadership in cardiac care and research have been hallmarks of the Spokane, Washington cardiology community.

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Apollo Helps Danada Wellness Center Deliver More Personalized Treatment, Reduce Manual Procedures, Improve Documentation

The Danada Wellness Center of Central DuPage Hospital in Wheaton, Illinois, features state-of-the-art facilities and trained staff — including physicians, RNs, exercise physiologists, registered dietitians and respiratory therapists — to aid patients in cardiac and pulmonary rehabilitation.

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Customization Enables Mt. Diablo Medical Center's Cath Lab to Record Results Faster and More Accurately at the Point of Care

JCAHO Awards Cath Lab Department Report Best Practice

Innovative customizations to Apollo has enabled Mt. Diablo Medical Center Cardiovascular Services to streamline workflow in the Cath Lab, promoting faster data collection and recording while eliminating duplicate efforts — all done at the point of care to ensure accurate data.

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Apollo's Powerful Capacity for Customization Enables Massachusetts General Hospital to Improve Data Collection and Data Integration for ACC Participation

Apollo's capacity for customization by end users is among its chief strengths. No Apollo user is more aware of this then Doctor Eugene Pomerantsev of the Cardiology Division at Massachusetts General Hospital, whose own enhancements to Apollo have made ACC participation far easier, faster and more accurate as compared with previous years.

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Apollo's Imaging and Data Management Solutions Provide Atlanta Medical Center With Breakthrough Competitive Advantages

With its laser-like focus on technology and digital flexibility, Atlanta Medical Center's Cardiac Services offer cardiologists a number of compelling and competitive advantages.

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Using Apollo, Data Collection Projects That Once Took Up to Six Months Have Been Reduced to One Week - Mercy Heart Institute

"Apollo has been a tremendous tool in helping Mercy Heart Institute to collect, store and analyze data, facilitate research efforts, and generate final physician reports," according to Domenic Marks, an IT Project Leader at the Institute.

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Florida Hospital Uses Apollo's Inventory Module To Handle Its Olympic Volume of Cath and EP Lab Activity

Distinguished as the largest heart program in Florida, and one of the three largest in the nation, Florida Hospital generates Olympic-caliber statistics...Florida Hospital implemented the Apollo Inventory Module in the last quarter of 2001.

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Apollo With Speech Recognition Technology Enables Physicians to Generate Reports Faster and With Less Effort

A physician's effort to increase efficiency lead the Cardiology Department at Scott & White Memorial Hospital, Temple, Texas, to incorporate speech recognition technology into Apollo, enabling physicians to generate reports faster and with less effort.

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Bay Medical Center Cardiac Surgery Program, Panama City, Florida, Keeps on Top of Patient Care Using Apollo's Powerful Analysis and Reporting Tools

Manager of Cardiac Performance Improvement offers sage advice on how to start a process improvement program using statistical analysis

Office walls that are densely populated with Apollo data analysis reports and graphs speak volumes to Pam Spires' commitment to using statistical studies to ensure quality patient care, promote efficiency, and optimize staff utilization. Pam is the Manager of Performance Improvement, Continuing Medical EducationCompliance plus oversees the statistical responsibilities of the Cardiac Surgery Program at Bay Medical Center, Panama City, Florida.

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