Midland Memorial Hospital Reduces Patient Deaths, Infection Rates Through Use of OpenVista Electronic Health Record

Study Shows Medsphere Solution Has Transformed Texas Hospital into Secure, Paper-lite Facility Through Improved Patient Care and Clinical Decision Support

Since the implementation of Medsphere's OpenVista electronic health record (EHR),Midland Memorial Hospital (MMH) has realized a host of improved clinical results, including fewer patient deaths and medical errors and decreased infection rates, an independent case study confirms.

The 2008 study was initiated by Medsphere to evaluate the effectiveness of OpenVista and was conducted by a third-party organization without Medsphere involvement.

OpenVista is now in use by all MMH healthcare workers to access patient information. Statistics from the study confirm that the solution has enabled clinical transformation through better decision-making and patient care processes:

• Patient deaths declined by roughly two persons per month because of OpenVista.
• Deaths among heart attack patients declined 27 percent, in part through electronic alerts ensuring timely preventive health measures.
• Central line bloodstream infection rates declined by almost 88 percent.
• Inconsistencies associated with medication administration fell from more than 33 percent to about 13 percent.

With OpenVista, almost 100 percent of physicians now enter orders electronically; Midland staff can access patient records instantaneously, and clinicians can access the same data remotely and securely.

"Without question, OpenVista has helped Midland Memorial Hospital take the lead in affordable health information technology," said Russell Meyers, CEO of the hospital. "Both healthcare for our patients and the decision-making process for our staff have improved. Midland Memorial is very proud of what the partnership with Medsphere has enabled us to accomplish."

A 320-bed facility across two campuses, MMH provides a full range of acute care services through a team that includes 800 clinical staff, 200 physicians and 300 auxiliary personnel. Specialty services include emergency medicine, general/vascular surgery, cardiovascular care and advanced radiological and oncology services.

"The study at Midland Memorial demonstrates conclusively that OpenVista and a comprehensive plan for process improvement is the fastest way to clinical excellence," said Michael J. Doyle, president and CEO of Medsphere. "OpenVista has powered better care at the hospital, and has done so more affordably and more quickly than comparable systems."

Importantly, the study's findings at MMH also support what healthcare IT advocacy groups are saying about the value of EHRs like OpenVista. The Health Information Management and Systems Society (HIMSS) Analytics organization last year recognized Midland as a Stage 6 healthcare facility—the highest level of automation recognized by HIMSS to date. The designation by HIMSS Analytics recognizes facilities that have implemented healthcare IT solutions and achieved established levels of automated patient care and clinical process improvement. With OpenVista, MMH was able to achieve Stage 6 for about one-third the cost ($7 million versus an average of $22 million) and in less than half the time (three years versus seven years) required by other vendors whose clients earned Stage 6 status.

More recently, MMH also garnered InfoWorld 100 recognition for the intelligent and creative implementation of OpenVista.

OpenVista is supported by a large and growing Healthcare Open Source Ecosystem, a collaborative community of healthcare facilities, developers, value-added resellers, clinicians and other interested parties dedicated to improving patient care through Open Source tools. The Ecosystem enables participants to develop OpenVista according to particular needs and desires; use, modify and enhance it in support of internal processes and workflows; and communicate feedback, share enhancements and benefit from one another's work.