HIMSS ’08: CPOE Tips Offered

HDM Breaking News, February 25, 2008

One key element to the successful launch of a computerized physician order entry program is to pay physicians to get involved in the planning. That’s the advice of William McClatchey, M.D., chief medical information officer at Piedmont Hospital in Atlanta.

Speaking at the 2008 HIMSS Conference in Atlanta on Feb. 25, McClatchey explained the hospital paid 28 physicians to get involved in its CPOE project, including attending an offsite retreat. The doctors have a sense of ownership in the order sets because they helped create 500 of them, he explained.

Within about four years of adopting CPOE at the 500-bed hospital, 100% of physicians used the application from Eclipsys Corp., Atlanta. The hospital estimates that its reduced mortality rate, largely because of using CPOE, has resulted in at least 200 saved lives over a four-year period.

Having a dedicated physician champion for CPOE, ideally a CMIO, also is essential to success, McClatchey contended. He urged hospitals to avoid the “big bang” approach to implementing CPOE, noting his hospital phased in the software over a 15-month period.

“CPOE is the largest change in how we practice medicine in our 100-year history,” he added. The key to capitalizing on CPOE, he said, is “to measure outcomes continuously to identify and eliminate bad processes and identify and enhance good processes.”

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