Clinical IS complete at Illinois firm

HONOLULU, USA: Illinois based Advocate Health Care has successfully completed implementation of its Clinical Information System, which it calls a consolidated information source that brings together patient-linked longitudinal data from diverse hospital systems.

Utilizing Convergence CT’s (CCT) Clinical Data Warehouse (CDW) technology and services, working with Advocate’s subject matter experts, data is converged into a single, easily accessible resource for clinical research, data reporting and operational studies. As per a press release, this affords Advocate’s medical and quality staff the ability to perform detailed, “deep” queries necessary to satisfy complex protocols without requiring additional Information Technology resources or impacting operational database systems.

“We feel it’s our responsibility to utilize health care dollars in a socially responsible and financially sustainable manner,” said Lee Sacks, MD, executive vice president and chief medical officer. Encompassing details on over one million annual in-patient visits spanning Advocate’s organization, which includes 10 adult hospitals, two integrated children’s hospitals, and more than 250 sites of care, the growing CDW warehouse includes electronic medical records, patient demographics, diagnoses, laboratory test schedules and results, operating room statistics, and details of prescribed medications.

After consolidation in the CDW, data can be summarized for a wealth of reporting requirements, becoming the basis for detailed queries and statistical analysis using a number of commercial analysis applications including SPSS, Cognos, MS Excel, and Convergence CT’s own products.

“Clinical integration is really leading us down the path of evolving into a highly reliable organization that develops the right care model to get the best possible outcomes,” said Michael McKenna, MD, vice president of medical management at Advocate Lutheran General Hospital.

Lambert Onuma, chief executive officer at CCT adds, “From an analytics perspective, real improvements in patient care, benchmark performance and efficiency will only stem from the use of evidence-based medicine. CCT’s CDW solution and analytics delivers this type of critical information.”