Selected Case Studies

HIMSS and co-sponsor American Society for Quality (ASQ) are proud to announce the selection of 26 submissions selected as part of its first Stories of Success! all call for case studies. Click here to see the news release and a list of those selected.

Stories of Success Meaningful Use Case Studies

The following case studies are from mature organizations that have successfully addressed many meaningful use topic areas. These snapshots provide insight into what can be achieved through leveraging health information technology and serve as guideposts.

Southeast Texas Medical Associates (SETMA)
Eastern Maine Medical Center (EMMC)
Texas Health Resources (THR)
Greater Rochester Independent Practice Association (GRIPA)

Organizations	Case Study Title & Example of Successful Outcomes	Health IT	TJC National Goal or NPP Priority Impacted
Electronic Health Records/Computerized Order Entry/Clinical Decision Support – EHR/CPOE/CDS
Advocate Health Care – Chicago, IL	“Reducing Venous Thromboembolism Using a Clinical Decision Support Alert in the Electronic Medical Record.” Decreased alerts, 10% decrease in VTE rate, cost avoidance, VTE, $3500/patient. Read Case Study View a presentation by Joel Shoolin, VP Informatics, Advocate Healthcare >>	CDS EHR	Reduce the risk of Healthcare Associated Infections NPSG.07.01.01 NPP Goals: Safety NPP - Infrastructure supports*
Brigham and Women's Hospital Boston, MA	“Using Technology to Improve Medication Safety at Brigham and Women’s Hospital.” Med errors fell 55%, dispensing errors fell 85%, transcription errors eliminated after the implementation of bar code/eMAR. Read Case Study View a presentation by Michael Sweet, Brigham and Women’s Hospital >>	CPOE, Bar code, Smart Pumps, Pharm IS
Community Health Network Indianapolis, IN	“Time was saved on the nurse intake and accuracy in recording the details of medications was improved.” Read Case Study	HIT: EHR, Medication Reconciliation	NPSG: 03.06.01 – Record and pass along correct information about a patient’s medicines
Eastern Maine Medical Center, Bangor, ME	“The Impact of Education and Computerized Provider Order Entry (CPOE) on Standardization and Reduction of Blood Transfusions in a Community Hospital”. 25%+ reduction blood acquisition costs; significant reduction, inpatient transfusions. Read Case Study View a presentation by Eric Hartz, MD, CMIO, Eastern Maine Medical Center >>	EHR, CPOE, Data mining
Elgin Gastroenterology South Barrington, IL	“Improving Colorectal Cancer Screening and Outcomes using an EMR Automation Model.” Increased referrals, improved documentation, profiling of physician adherence. Read Case Study	EHR
Graybill Medical Group Southern CA	“Improving Wellness and Care Management with an Electronic Health Record System.” 10% increase in mammograms. 18.25 days wait for office visits and 26.93 for preventive care visits, reduced to three days. 5% increase in physician’s patient load. Read Case Study View a presentation by Leslie Chapman, Director Finance/Information Technology, Graybill Medical Group >>	EHR
Greater Rochester Independent Practice Association Rochester, NY	“Electronic prescribing significantly and measurably improves the quality and efficiency of patient care in a teaching-hospital’s outpatient medical clinic.” Renewals, decreased, 1-week to 24 hours. Patient complaints reduced 50%, prescription-related phone calls reduced 80%. Read Case Study View a presentation by James Garnham, Greater Rochester Independent Practice Association (GRIPA) >>	E-Prescribing, HIE, CDS
Institute for Family Health	Promoting Access to Services in At-Risk Populations: Advanced Use of an EHR at the Institute for Family Health Patient Portal - Tracking data show that patients have used the portal to send over 27,000 messages to their providers, requested 4,500 prescription renewals, and scheduled 4,100 appointments. Through the diabetes registry, a cohort of 1,241 patients was identified with clinical measures indicating a lack of diabetes control (A1c > 9, blood pressure >140/90, or LDL > 130). An outreach team has contacted these patients for care management services, resulting in dramatic reductions in the number of patients with uncontrolled diabetes measures. Read the case study	EHR, Patient Portal	NPP – Engaging patients and families in managing health and making decisions about care NPP – Ensure patients receive coordinated care across all Providers, Settings and Levels of Care. NPP – Improve the health of the population
Kaiser Permanente S CA Southern CA Region	“Proactive Office Encounter—Optimal Integrated Care for Every Patient Encounter.” 30% increase in colon cancer screenings, 11% increase in breast cancer screening, 5% increase in cervical cancer screening, 13% improvement in cholesterol control. Read Case Study	EHR
Marshfield Clinic Marshfield, WI	“You Can’t Manage What You Can’t Measure.” (Quality reporting to eliminate gaps in care and improved compliance). 24% increase BP control, 10% increase A1C control, 24% increase LDL control. Read Case Study	EHR
Memorial Healthcare System Miramar, FL	“Clinical Decision Support Helps Memorial Healthcare System Achieve 97 Percent Compliance with Pediatric Asthma Core Quality Measures.” Computer-generated alerts, identify pediatric asthma patients, achieving a 97% compliance rate with Joint Commission core measure. Read Case Study	CDS
Memorial Hermann Houston, TX	“Use of Clinical Decision Support Interventions to Reduce Harm from Anticoagulation Therapy.” Reduction in the administration of warfarin. Reduction in incidence of documented bleeding complication. Net cost savings costs $12,403, and potential revenue of $917,822. Read Case Study	EHR, CPOE
Miramont Family Medicine	Improving the Health of the Patient Population The percentage of diabetic patients at Miramont Family Medicine with documented A1C's has gone from 42% to 91.4%. Read the case study	EHR & Integrated Registry	NPP – Improving the health of the population
Murphy Medical Center Murphy, NC	After we had the eMedRec up and running the discrepancies between the dictated discharge summary and eMedRec dropped to 14%. The average number of phone calls that required clarification for NH patients dropped from 60% to approximately 15% after eMedRec utilization. Read the case study	HIT: EHR, CPOE, eMedRec, ePrescribing	NPSG: Improve effectiveness of communication among caregivers Improve the safety of using medications Meaningful Use Goal: Electronic Medication Reconciliation to improve Patient Safety and Care Coordination
Nemours	An Organized Strategic Focus to Achieve National Patient Safety Goals (NSPGs) Augmented by an Electronic Medical Record (EMR). The rate of complete documented outpatient medication reconciliation improved from 30% of encounters to near 90%. Read the case study	EMR & CPOE	Improve accuracy of patient identification NPSG.01.01.01 Reduce the risk of healthcare associated infections NPSG.07.05.01 Accurately & completely reconcile medications across the continuum of care NPSG.03.06.01* NPSG.08.01.01 NPSG.08.02.01 NPSG.08.03.01 NPSG.08.04.01 Universal Protocol UP.01.01.01 UP.01.02.01 UP.01.03.01 NPP – Safety NPP – Care Coordination NPP – Infrastructure supports*
NorthShore University HealthSystem Evanston, IL	“Making the Electronic Health Record Do the Heavy Lifting: Reducing Hospital Acquired Urinary Tract Infections at NorthShore University HealthSystem (NorthShore) in Evanston, Illinois”. 10% reduction patient days with urinary catheter, 20% decrease CAUTIs, $200,000 in avoided charges. Read Case Study	EHR
Norwood Hospital Norwood, MA	“Integrated Technology: Strengthening the Foundations of Patient Safety.” Pyxis override rate, 0.7%; Alaris pump dictionary compliance, 96.7%; Medication scan rates, 90% monthly avg; Patient BMV scan rates, 94% monthly avg; CPOE inpatient utilization, 83% (national avg, 75%); 92% decrease in illegible orders with CPOE. Read Case Study	EHR
Queens Long Island Medical Center Queens, NY	“Queens Long Island Medical Center Improves Quality and Physician Satisfaction with EHR Backbone and Patient Centered Medical Home Initiative”. 4% improvement in quality of diabetic care, 21% decline diabetes-related mortality, reduction $18,000/patient healthcare costs. Read Case Study	EHR
Southeast Texas Medical Associates	Improving Population Healthcare and Safety Through Real-time Data access, Auditing and Reporting EHR and business intelligence tools drive quality metrics on its entire population of 7,600 diabetes patients, and all providers can calculate all 12 Framingham risk scores in one second. Read the case study	EHR	NPP - Patient and family engagement NPP-Population health NPP-Safety NPP-Care Coordination NPP-Infrastructure supports*
Texas Health Resources	Reducing Venous Thromboembolism (VTE) using Clinical Decision Support Best practice advisories fire every 4 hours to physicians until VTE Prophylaxis is ordered or documentation given as to why not warranted. Nurses also receive advisories every 4 hours until they contact the physician regarding consideration of VTE prophylaxis. Read the case study	EHR, CPOE, CDSS	Improve the safety of using medication - NPSG 03.05.01 NPP – Safety NPP – Care coordination NPP – Infrastructure supports*
University Medical Practice Associates (UMPA)	Driving Improvement of Diabetes Care in Upper West Side and Harlem neighborhoods of New York City through Clinical Decision Support and Analytics Examples of successful outcomes: In 4 months, the following improvements were noted: % of patients with HbA1c <8.0 from 77% to 76% % of patients with HbA1c >9.0 reduced from 15% to 12% % of patients who had dilated eye exam increased from 17% to 46% % of patients who had blood pressure <140/90 increased from 61% to 72% Read the case study	EHR, CDSS, Analytics tools	NPP goals: Improve health of the Population Engage Patients and Families in Managing Health and Making Decisions about Care Ensure Patients Received Well-Coordinated Care across all Providers, Settings, and Levels of Care Meaningful Use Goal(s): Improve Population Health Engage Patients and Families Improve Care Coordination
University of Rochester Medical Center Rochester, NY	“Facilitating Safe and Efficient Patient Handoff, Using a Home-Grown e-Signout System that is Integrated with Other Hospitals Systems.” More then 90% of cases, active signout record. Read Case Study	E-Signout tool
Veterans Healthcare System of the Ozarks	The Use of a Cognitive Aid within the Electronic Record can greatly improve the effectiveness of communication among care givers and reduce patient injuries from falls. VHSO has sustained twenty-one months with no major complication within their inpatient population, a major accomplishment in a setting with an average patient turnover rate of 6.35 per month. Read the case study	CPRS	NPP – Safety NPP – Care coordination NPP – Infrastructure supports*
Virginia Commonwealth University Health System	Using Health Information Technology - CPOE to Advance Performance Improvement in Heart Failure Patients at Virginia Commonwealth University Health System. Consistently exceed 95% in ensuring their heart failure patients receive appropriate written discharge instructions and education at time of care transition, sustained for seven quarters. Read the case study	EHR CPOE	Accurately & completely reconcile medications across the continuum of care NPSG.08.01.01 NPSG.08.02.01 NPSG.08.03.01 NPSG.08.04.01 NPP - Patient and Family Engagement NPP – Safety NPP – Care coordination NPP – Infrastructure supports
Weill Cornell	TruData: The Facilitator of Clear Communication at Weill Cornell TruData maps test results from 19 different agencies to a standard name, has transformed over 12 million lab test results and providers can trend the data electronically regardless of resulting agency. Read the case study	EHR	NPSG.02.03.01 Improve staff communication in regard to getting important test results to the right staff person on time NPP – Improve the Safety of America's Healthcare System Eliminate Waste While Ensuring the Delivery of Appropriate Care
Data Mining
Eastern Maine Medical Center, Bangor, ME	“The Impact of Education and Computerized Provider Order Entry (CPOE) on Standardization and Reduction of Blood Transfusions in a Community Hospital”. 25%+ reduction blood acquisition costs; significant reduction, inpatient transfusions. Read Case Study View a presentation by Eric Hartz, MD, CMIO, Eastern Maine Medical Center >>	EHR, CPOE, Data mining
Riverside Regional Medical Center	Using Embedded Analytics through Information Technology to "NIP" MDROs in the Bud Total Facility HAI rate reduction from 2009 to 2010 : 17% incidence reduction for MRSA, VRE and Cdiff infections; MRSA HAI reduction of 42% from 2008 to 2010 Direct correlation of decrease in HAIs with increase in presumptive isolation and reduction in time to isolation Read the case study	Data mining tool – NIP-IT	NPSG 07.03.01 Preventing Multidrug-Resistant Organism Infections
Radio Frequency Identification
Mercy Des Moines – Mercy Heart Hospital Des Moines, IA	“Patient Safety Improvements through Real-Time Inventory Management.” Fulfilling TJC requirements of removing expired products from the shelf. 568% ROI, improved charge capture, right-sizing inventory, taking advantage of bulk-inventory order opportunities. Read Case Study	RFID
Princeton Baptist Medical Center	Efficacy of an Electronic Hand Hygiene Surveillance and Feedback Monitoring Device Against Healthcare Associated Infections A 22% decrease in electronic infection markers indicates the potential to not only reduce healthcare associated infections (HAIs) in a hospital but to decrease the costs associated with these infections. Read the case study	RFID	Reduce the risk of Healthcare Associated Infections NPSG.07.01.01 NPP Goals: Safety NPP - Infrastructure supports*
Surgical information System
Bassett Health Network Cooperstown, NY	“The Use of Perioperative Information Technology to Improve Quality of Patient Care and Operating Efficiency in an Academic Teaching Hospital”. 37% increase in compliance of documented hand-off communication between providers. Read Case Study	Surgical information system