Conway to deploy PatientKeeper's physician healthcare information systems

PatientKeeper®, Inc., the leading provider of physician healthcare information systems, today announced that Conway Medical Center has purchased PatientKeeper's suite of advanced clinical applications to automate physician workflow and drive physician adoption of healthcare information technology at their 210-bed hospital located near Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.

“The PatientKeeper clinical applications that Conway is deploying will let physicians focus more of their time and energy on patient care, and concurrently will support attainment of the hospital's quality of care and meaningful use goals.”

Conway Medical Center purchased PatientKeeper because it supports existing physician workflow, provides a physician-friendly interface and encourages voluntary physician adoption of healthcare IT required for "meaningful use" compliance. PatientKeeper also is extremely cost-effective, because it complements existing systems - no "rip and replace" is required.

Conway will deploy PatientKeeper's clinical suite of applications for physicians, including:

• PatientKeeper CPOE™ (Computerized Physician Order Entry), which is a required software application for the hospital to meet requirements set forth in the ARRA-HITECH meaningful use legislation;
• The PatientKeeper Physician Portal™, which allows physicians to easily manage their patients and obtain a quick and comprehensive view of patient clinical data from any web browser;
• PatientKeeper Mobile Clinical Results™, which allows doctors to access patient clinical data anywhere from the latest smartphones or tablets; and
• PatientKeeper NoteWriter™, which reduces the time it takes for physicians to write clinical notes.

Conway chose PatientKeeper after an extensive review of options and competitive offerings and based on distinct patient care, cost and IT infrastructure benefits. PatientKeeper integrates with Conway's existing MEDITECH Magic hospital information system (HIS) and various departmental systems, giving physicians one place to go for all their patient information.

"Of particular importance was the decision to implement PatientKeeper's CPOE software," Mickey Waters, Conway's director of IT, said. "Our entire team, including the physicians, was excited by the design of PatientKeeper CPOE, which makes the ordering process simple for the physician. In addition, PatientKeeper CPOE will put us on a fast path to meaningful use, which is important from both a patient safety and financial perspective."

PatientKeeper CPOE is embraced by physicians because it saves time versus the traditional paper-based ordering process. It does not require physicians to learn a new language to place orders, and the software incorporates evidence-based medicine and drug alerting in a way that artfully supports the physician workflow and doesn't create alert fatigue. PatientKeeper CPOE also contains an integrated medication reconciliation capability so that physicians can efficiently manage and communicate a patient's medications at each transition in care.

Mobility was another driver for Conway's selection of PatientKeeper. "A lot of physicians are coming in with iPhones and iPads, and they want to use them on our hospital wireless network," Waters said. "Our ultimate goal is to give physicians access to their patient information anywhere - and not just anywhere in the hospital, but also at a doctor's home and office, or on the road."

Conway prides itself on being a technology innovator, and PatientKeeper continues that trend. "We want to let physicians enjoy state-of-the-art technology here," Waters said. "Deploying PatientKeeper will offer physicians another advantage to practicing at Conway Medical Center."

"We are thrilled to add Conway Medical Center to PatientKeeper's client roster of more than 400 hospitals and 35,000 physician users," said Paul Brient, PatientKeeper's president and CEO. "The PatientKeeper clinical applications that Conway is deploying will let physicians focus more of their time and energy on patient care, and concurrently will support attainment of the hospital's quality of care and meaningful use goals."