Company: Lehigh Valley Hospital, Allentown, Pennsylvania
Company Division/Group: Lehigh Valley Hospital and Health Network (LVHHN)
Company Description: LVHHN is a premier not-for-profit academic community hospital network serving eastern PA. LVHHN's three hospitals are designated national Magnet hospitals for nursing excellence and rank among Pennsylvania's largest teaching hospitals. Consistently ranked as one of America's Best Hospitals by U.S. News and World Report, LVHHN's 800-bed hospital system serves more than 42,000 patients a year.
Nomination Category: Organization Awards Categories
Nomination Sub Category: Best MIS & Systems Organization

Nomination Title: Lehigh Valley Hospital Information Services Department

   1. Tell the story about what this nominated functional organization achieved in 2004 (up to 500 words). Focus on specific accomplishments, and relate these accomplishments to past performance or industry norms. Be sure to mention obstacles overcome, innovations or discoveries made, and outcomes:

A leader in health care technology, Lehigh Valley Hospital Information Services
has implemented many clinical applications and processes with a goal towards
improving patient safety.  Technological initiatives such as Computerized
Physician Order Entry (CPOE), barcode medication charting (BMC), digital
imaging, and Tele-Medicine Intensive Care have resulted in major improvements to
patient safety.  Additional benefits include enhanced access to information,
incorporation of evidence-based medicine, improved continuity of care, streamlined
clinician workflow and increased patient-to-clinician interaction time.

Lehigh Valley Hospital is among the five percent of hospitals to implement CPOE
and only three percent to implement barcode medication charting. These two
technologies are part of an integrated hospital information system that ensures
safety from the point of electronic order entry through the barcode validation of
medications to be administered.

CPOE replaces handwritten physician orders eliminating transcription errors while
decision support tools screen for allergies, interactions and dose selection.
Evidence-based ordersets ensure appropriate orders selection leading to improved
patient outcomes.  Once medications are ordered, the barcode medication system
ensures that the "Five Rights" of medication administration are followed (right
patient, right medication, right dose, right time, right route).

We continually improve the hospital's computer network to support increased
demands, accessibility and reliability.  Our clinicians access patient data and
manage orders wirelessly using sub-notebooks in the hospital, from offices and
homes.

The contributions of a digital imaging system include enhanced decision support,
decreased turnaround time, elimination of manual processes and lost films.
Patient safety is improved by making results available from any location, more
quickly, so that they can aid in the decision-making process.

Tele-Medicine Intensive Care incorporates 24/7 Intensivist coverage from a
centralized location with a critical care information system, two-way audio
communication and high-resolution video from patient rooms. It provides automatic
recording of patient vital signs, "virtual" rounds, immediate access to
Intensivists, built-in alerts that proactively monitor patient conditions, and a means to communicate with family members at any time.

Vast improvements have been made to patient throughput from admission to
discharge.  An electronic bed board system has been incorporated that enables
hospital personnel to quickly assign beds that meet the patient¡¦s clinical and
demographic needs.  An electronic patient transfer report has been created to
facilitate communication between nurses.  We internally developed our own Web-
based automated discharge instructions. These provide complete and legible
directions, teaching materials and prescriptions for post-discharge care.

Our mission is to provide superior quality care for our patients.  All of our
initiatives must first answer this question, "does this improve patient care and reduce potential errors?"  We believe that all of the technologies we have instituted
answer this question affirmatively.  We have also noted a marked increase in patient
satisfaction scores since instituting these programs.

It is the combination of clinicians and supporting technology that strengthens
clinical processes, reduces potential errors, improves safety and ensures better
patient care.  Our technologies work together to ensure continuity of care,
enhance decision-making capabilities and provide seamless communication. 
Lehigh Valley Hospital Information Services is dedicated to improvements in
patient care and safety.

   2. List hyperlinks to any online news stories, press releases, or other documents that support the claims made in the section above. IMPORTANT: List each link on a separate line, begin each link with http://, and enclose each link in square brackets; for example, [http://www.website.com]:

Lehigh Valley Hospital Links

Summary

  Protecting Your Health: Computers and Your Safety in the Hospital
 http://lvhhn.org/cwo/Being_Healthy/Healthy_You_Magazine/index.php?id=2&id2=11&id3=463&page_id=874#

  Medication safety efforts advance
 http://www.physiciansnews.com/cover/604.html

  IDX Announces Winners of CareCast„· Customer Innovation Awards
 http://www.imagingmagazine.mfi.com/news/pr_news.6j9.htm

Computerized Physician Order Entry

CPOE is much more than computers - Managing Change - computerized
physician order entry
http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0843/is_6_29/ai_111356959

Barcode Medication Charting

  Mobile technology streamlines documentation and helps nurses deliver more
efficient, higher quality care
 http://www.nurseweek.com/news/features/04-01/mobiletech_web.asp

Tele-Intensivist (AICU)

  LVHHN Teams with Software Company - iMDsoft - to Help Manage Intensive
Care Units
 http://www.imd-soft.com/main.asp?strPageId=63#LVHHN

Patient Logistics

  Bed Tracking Improves Productivity, Staff Morale
 http://health-care-it.advanceweb.com/common/editorial/editorial.aspx?cc=42473
 
  Lehigh Valley Hospital Tackles Capacity Crunch
 http://www.teletracking.com/solutions/bedmanagementsuite/casestudies.cfm?id=70

Miscellaneous

  The LVHHN Patient Safety Video: Patients as Partners in Safe Care Delivery
 http://www.jcrinc.com/subscribers/journal.asp?durki=8018&site=14&return=6421

   3. Provide a brief (up to 100 words) biography about the leader(s) of this nominated functional organization:

Harry F. Lukens, Senior Vice President & CIO has over 26 years of healthcare
experience.  He is responsible for the multi-million dollar strategic information
services budget and oversees 150+ employees.  Under his leadership the
department has seen zero employee turnover, maintained high employee
satisfaction scores and numerous awards for innovations.

Lehigh Valley Hospital has been ranked as one of the nation¡¦s top hospitals in six
specialties in the 2004 U.S. News and World Report guide to "America's Best
Hospitals" and named by Hospitals and Health Networks as one of the 100 Most
Wired and 25 Most Wireless Hospitals in 2004.