Baptist Healthcare System recognized for outstanding achievements in healthcare delivery
Baptist Healthcare System Inc. has received a 2009 VIP Award from McKesson Technology Solutions for its use of information technology (IT) to achieve outstanding results in the delivery of healthcare to the community. The VIP Awards are presented annually to organizations that demonstrate vision, innovation and performance in the use of healthcare IT.
Baptist Healthcare is one of five healthcare organizations selected this year by a panel of judges – who are considered experts in the field of healthcare IT use – to receive the award. In honor of its achievements, the system’s local foundation will receive a $10,000 grant from McKesson.
Baptist Healthcare has achieved remarkable improvements in patient care, clinical efficiency and financial performance. The health system has built an extensive McKesson IT infrastructure that collects and processes a large amount of clinical and financial data. To reinforce a team approach and improve patient care, Baptist Healthcare developed a process to quickly turn that data into reports that help care teams identify problem areas and improve processes. Now, the team can quickly see the effect their process changes have on patient care.
“Our passion has always been to constantly improve the care we provide to our patients,” says Tommy Smith, Baptist Healthcare president. “Since we started reporting our data more quickly to the care teams, the results have been phenomenal. In some cases we have teams reviewing their new data on a daily basis while the most recent patient encounters are still fresh on the mind, helping to spark continuous improvements.”
Since beginning this initiative, Baptist Healthcare has seen dramatic improvements in its care quality measurements and now meets or exceeds the 10th percentile for more than half of all its publicly reported indicators. Additionally, all of its hospitals fully meet the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) quality-of-care reporting standards, allowing for CMS incentives that represent more than $40 million for the organization.
“As the industry prepares for government stimulus incentives, implementing EHRs and optimizing the use of health IT have become even higher priorities for hospitals and physicians,” said Michael Brozino, senior vice president of marketing, McKesson Provider Technologies. “Our customers have long understood the role that health IT can play in reducing the cost of care while providing the best possible treatment to patients. It’s an honor to recognize these customers for their outstanding achievements.”
VIP Award applicants underwent a rigorous judging process based on six weighted criteria: definition of the business objective, quality of the process used to make improvements, use of McKesson solution in enabling the improvement, impact on clinical and/or financial issues, improvement in service to the community, and the method used to measure results. Baptist Healthcare also won McKesson’s VIP Award in 2007.
For more information on the award, visit www.mckesson.com/VIPawardnews.
The 2002 VIP Award judges include: Emily A. Nudelman, RN, MBA, regional director of business operations, information services for Providence Health System-Oregon; Kent L. Gale, founder, managing partner and executive director of KLAS Enterprises, LLC; Bob Skinner, vice president of information systems and chief information officer for Presbyterian Healthcare Services; Jane B. Metzger, research director in emerging practices for First Consulting Group; and Alden Solovy, executive editor of Hospitals and Health Networks.
About McKesson
McKesson Corporation, currently ranked 15th on the FORTUNE 500, is a healthcare services and information technology company dedicated to helping its customers deliver high-quality healthcare by reducing costs, streamlining processes, and improving the quality and safety of patient care. McKesson has been in continuous operation for more than 175 years, making it the longest operating company in healthcare today. Over the course of its history, McKesson has grown by providing pharmaceutical and medical-surgical supply management across the spectrum of care; healthcare information technology for hospitals, physicians, homecare and payors; hospital and retail pharmacy automation; and services for manufacturers and payors designed to improve outcomes for patients. For more information, visit http://www.mckesson.com.
About Baptist Healthcare
Baptist Healthcare is the state’s largest not-for-profit healthcare system in Kentucky. Baptist Healthcare consists of Baptist Hospital East in Louisville, Central Baptist Hospital in Lexington, Western Baptist Hospital in Paducah, and Baptist Hospital Northeast in La Grange. Baptist Healthcare also manages Hardin Memorial Hospital in Elizabethtown. The system also owns Bluegrass Family Health, a not-for-profit provider-sponsored health plan and Baptist Community Health Services, comprised of Baptist Physicians’ Surgery Center, BaptistWorx® occupational medicine clinics, Prime Care and Urgent Care centers and physician offices. For more information, visit http://www.bhsi.com.