Beebe Healthcare honored with Stage 6 recognition

Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society Analytics announced that Beebe Healthcare has achieved Stage 6 on the Electronic Medical Records Adoption Model. Beebe Healthcare implemented a new electronic medical records system in March 2014 and has since achieved Stage 6, a level only 15 percent of hospitals nationwide have met, according to HIMSS Analytics.

For Beebe Healthcare patients and families, Stage 6 achievement means potentially higher patient satisfaction and patient safety, according to HIMSS; faster turnaround time for patients to  access their health information; potential reduction in errors such as duplicate medical orders, adverse drug events  or preventable patient readmissions; and increase in direct patient care time.

For Beebe-affiliated physicians and team members, Stage 6 achievement means less time spent on documentation; reduction in paper-based costs and environmental impact; and support of Beebe’s focus on patient safety.

Michael Maksymow, vice president and chief information officer at Beebe Healthcare, said, “Beebe is proud and honored to have achieved the Stage 6 level. It’s quite remarkable that this level was achieved so quickly. Beebe was at HIMSS Stage 3 when we replaced our former EMR with Cerner in March 2014, a process that generally takes more than one year to implement.” Beebe’s time frame was only nine months, and the success is attributed to the outstanding multidisciplinary team that collaborated on this implementation.

"To obtain HIMSS Stage 6, this needed to be a clinical project, not just an IT project.  We could not have made this happen without our clinical staff and physicians leading this project," said Jeffrey E. Hawtof, MD, FPPFP, vice president of medical operations and informatics.

In addition to the HIMSS achievement, Cerner Corporation announced earlier this year that Beebe Healthcare was recognized with the Project Excellence Award for the first quarter in 2014.

President and CEO of Beebe Healthcare Jeffrey  M. Fried, FACHE, said: “One of the obstacles that has prevented our healthcare system from being more efficient, having better outcomes and lower costs is the lack of a coordinated and integrated health information system. Health information is generated in physician offices, pharmacies, hospitals, skilled nursing facilities, in the home, etc.  Without access to this information on a real-time basis, clinicians have not always had the most current information available to them when making important decisions with their patients.

“Beebe is investing millions of dollars in information systems because we believe it is a critical part of the infrastructure that will help to change the way care is delivered, and ensure clinicians have the information they need to take better care of their patients. Receiving this level of recognition acknowledges the hard work of all those people at Beebe who understand why these systems are critical to our future, but more importantly to the health of our community,” said Fried.

Among other hallmarks, Stage 6 hospitals, according to HIMSS Analytics, have made significant executive commitments and investments to reach this stage; appear to have a significant advantage over other hospitals for patient safety, clinician support, clinician recruitment, and competitive marketing for both consumers and nurse recruitment; and have almost fully automated/paperless medical records when they have implemented their IT applications across most of the inpatient care settings.

HIMSS Analytics developed the EMR Adoption Model in 2005 as a methodology for evaluating the progress and impact of electronic medical record systems for hospitals in the HIMSS Analytics Database. Tracking their progress in completing eight stages (0-7), hospitals can review the implementation and utilization of information technology applications with the intent of reaching Stage 7, which represents an advanced electronic patient record environment.

Beebe Healthcare is a not-for-profit community healthcare system with a charitable mission to encourage healthy living, prevent illness, and restore optimal health for the people residing, working, or visiting in the communities it serves. For more information, go to www.beebehealthcare.org.