Centralized, Multi-Modality Web CVIS Untethers Cardiology, Transforms Care Delivery at Crouse Hospital

Crouse Hospital boasts a nationally recognized cardiac care center, providing a full range of interventional and diagnostic procedures for pediatric and adult patients in the greater Syracuse, N.Y., area. Committed to delivering the highest standards of cardiac care, Crouse is the first hospital in New York State to be certified as both a chest pain and heart failure center, has among the lowest door-to-balloon times in the region, and is ICAEL-accredited.

Its robust program requires highly qualified clinicians, dedicated staff — and state-of-the-art technology. Crouse recently implemented HealthView, a Web-based cardiovascular information system (CVIS) by Lumedx that streamlines clinical workflows and improves access to patient information across the care continuum.

Unconnected Systems and Inaccessible Data

“We never had a centralized CVIS prior to HealthView,” says Justin Pratt, CVIS/PACS administrator. “We had many different systems that functioned as islands with no common database; that was the principal problem. Cardiology data was not integrated effectively and each CV modality had its own solution.”

Disparate, unconnected systems meant that clinicians could not quickly access patient data. Instead, clinicians called department secretaries and searched through dictated reports for information about their patients. Related problems included:

·       Physicians tethered to workstations in the hospital

·       Images were not integrated with reports

·       A cumbersome, paper-based scheduling process

·       No way to track productivity, lab utilization and other CV operational benchmarks

·       Incomplete integration with the enterprise electronic health record (EHR)

A Web-Based CVIS

As the Crouse Cardiac Center grew, it became apparent that it was time to consolidate systems and automate the CV workflow. Because of Lumedx’s expertise in CV integration and workflow optimization, the vendor’s HealthView platform was a natural choice for Crouse.

Crouse has implemented HealthView physician reporting, imaging, scheduling, integration management, registry reporting, modality worklist, and automatic transmission of results.

Benefits: Flexibility, Efficiency, Enhanced Care

Installing HealthView has helped Crouse:

·       Centralize cardiology data

·       Eliminate dictation and paper-based workflows

·       Capture accurate information for billing

·       Meet meaningful use

·       Minimize hardware and reduce IT costs

·       Electronically monitor and trend performance

·       Empower clinicians to make fully informed treatment decisions and track appropriate use

How the new system supports physicians is especially notable: because HealthView is Web-based, cardiologists now have anywhere, anytime-access to patient data.

“The fact that I can access cardiovascular results and images from anywhere has significantly improved my workflow and ability to provide the best in patient care,” says Medical Director and Chief of Cardiology Joseph Battaglia, M.D., FACC. “When critical findings are found by a sonographer, for example, I can immediately pull up those images and finalize the report, regardless of my location. This eliminates any delay in providing results to the attending physician. I can also now review images and results in my office immediately and don’t have to call or go to the department. In fact, I routinely pull up patients that are in the office in HealthView and review their images and results with them.”

For more information: www.lumedx.com