PatientKeeper Announces New Solution for Computerized Physician Order Entry (CPOE)

Mercy Medical Center in Cedar Rapids Iowa purchases PatientKeeper CPOE to meet Meaningful Use criteria while saving physicians’ time and helping them practice better medicine

BOSTON – March 1, 2010 – PatientKeeper®, Inc., the leading provider of Physician Information Technology, today announced PatientKeeper CPOE™, a new solution that offers an alternative option for community hospitals and their affiliated physicians to meet the Meaningful Use criteria for CPOE.  PatientKeeper CPOE enables hospitals to deploy computerized order entry for their physicians without requiring them to install a new HIT system. The new software application has been designed to improve physician workflow, so it saves physicians time and can be quickly and easily adopted by physicians.

PatientKeeper CPOE is unique among CPOE systems in the market in that it puts the physician first and makes it easier and more efficient for physicians to practice medicine.  This is not a time neutral application – this application saves physicians time and doesn’t require physicians to change arbitrarily the way they work or the way they practice medicine.

PatientKeeper CPOE enables physicians to translate all of the things they normally do throughout the day – ordering labs, radiology, meds, etc. – into a seamless system that connects all of the appropriate departments within the hospital and healthcare community.   Most traditional approaches to CPOE have been designed around the way departments receive data, instead of how physicians think about orders. Furthermore, traditional CPOE systems require a complete standardization of order sets – which often takes years to get physicians to agree on, since 70-80% of the orders on the order sets are not driven by evidence.   As a result, traditional CPOE systems have not been well adopted by community based physicians.   Barely one-third of hospitals have purchased some form of CPOE, and fewer than 10% of physicians actually make use of the system to enter their orders after they have been purchased. 

“In the community hospital setting – where not all physicians are employed by the hospital and may spend only limited time there each day – deploying a CPOE solution can be a significant challenge,” said Jeff Cash, Sr. VP & CIO at Mercy Medical Center, a community hospital in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. “We have partnered with PatientKeeper because they offer a CPOE solution that doesn’t change the way physicians practice medicine but rather supports it. With PatientKeeper, our physicians will be able to increase patient safety, decrease order entry and rounding time and ensure compliance with industry regulations using the platform that works best for their unique needs. It’s a win-win for the physicians and for the hospital.”

"I am very pleased with the approach that PatientKeeper has taken to implement CPOE", said Dr. Donald Nelson from Mercy Medical Center. "It is designed to adapt to my workflow. PatientKeeper will focus on the critical information needed to complete an order without requiring me to fill in information that the computer can handle for me. PatientKeeper will be able to remind me when I am deviating from evidence-based medicine without telling me how to practice medicine."

Significant features of PatientKeeper CPOE include:

• Personalized Order Sets – With PatientKeeper CPOE, physicians can personalize order sets and incorporate evidence-based orders as appropriate over time. As the system collects data on actual ordering practices, hospitals can incorporate and/or modify evidence-based order sets as needed.

• Order Routing – PatientKeeper CPOE exists as a layer on top of a hospital’s current IT infrastructure and routes orders to existing departmental systems for processing and fulfillment, allowing a hospital to leverage existing hospital IT investments rather than requiring the hospital to rip and replace their current systems. This approach saves the hospital significant time, effort and expense while making Meaningful Use achievable within the required, tight timeframes.

• Mobile Platform Support – With PatientKeeper CPOE, physicians have the option of using a Smartphone or other mobile device to quickly and easily enter simple orders, reducing verbal orders and eliminating the compliance issues associated with them.

• Support for Hybrid Paper and Electronic Processes – By supporting both paper and electronic-based processes, PatientKeeper CPOE does not require physicians to change their workflow or wait until all back-end departmental systems are automated before adopting CPOE. 

“CPOE has been 5 years away from being fully adopted for the past 20 years.    This is because traditional CPOE systems slow physicians down and require them to make arbitrary changes to the way they practice medicine,” said Paul Brient, CEO of PatientKeeper. “Our software is easy and intuitive for physicians to use and saves them time over paper processes. PatientKeeper CPOE provides technology that physicians will love and is the fastest way to achieve Meaningful Use.”

About PatientKeeper:

PatientKeeper Inc., the leading provider of physician information technology, works with hospitals and physicians to deliver solutions that drive efficient operations and a higher standard of patient care. PatientKeeper’s unique technology provides a single, secure view of patient information coupled with comprehensive physician workflow applications without replacing applications already in use. The company boasts the industry’s highest physician adoption rates and delivers solutions that ensure HITECH meaningful use criteria is met while delivering demonstrable ROI for hospitals, physician organizations and community health information exchanges alike. For more information about PatientKeeper, headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts, visit www.patientkeeper.com or call 617-987-0300.

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