MSHA implements SIS perioperative management solution

Surgical Information Systems ('SIS'), a leader in perioperative information systems, announced today that Mountain States Health Alliance (MSHA) has completed implementation of Perioperative Management by SIS for organizations using Soarian® Clinicals from Siemens Healthcare in two facilities: Johnson City Medical Center and Johnston Memorial Hospital. Mountain States Health Alliance is Northeast Tennessee's largest healthcare system with 13 hospitals in Tennessee and Virginia.

To help improve efficiency across its entire perioperative continuum, MSHA elected to replace its legacy perioperative IT system and automate its anesthesia documentation process in eight facilities. The hospital system, whose investment includes an advanced perioperative analytics tool to support quality reporting and optimization initiatives, will complete implementation in the remaining facilities during the next nine months.

"Advanced integration between SIS and our Siemens Soarian® health information system is already paying off," notes Paul Merrywell , Chief Information Officer at MSHA. "By enhancing communication, streamlining nursing and anesthesia documentation, and facilitating the flow of patient information throughout the perioperative care process, we can now efficiently provide the right information to the right care provider at the right time. With electronic data exchange between SIS and Siemens, our providers have the data they need – at their fingertips – to support our efforts to improve patient care and efficiency."

The hospital system's Perioperative Management by SIS solution includes:

• Nursing documentation and an anesthesia information management system (AIMS) designed to streamline clinical workflows;
• Patient tracking through all phases of care to help improve communications and core metrics including on time case starts and room turnover times;
• Perioperative dashboards to provide surgical teams with key patient information such as labs, vital signs, antibiotic timers, and checklists; and
• Role-based analytics to assist in better understanding and managing surgical operations, including anesthesia-specific information.

Along with improving efficiency and communication, MSHA sought to engage with an industry expert that could help them develop a corporate strategy and consistent process for capturing, managing and exchanging information. Gaining timely insight into cost, quality and operational results was also a key factor in the organization's successful implementation of the interoperable perioperative IT system.

"As a multi-facility health system supporting a large patient population, sharing information is essential to our ability to provide efficient, high-quality care," states Merrywell. "SIS' perioperative expertise was invaluable in helping us standardize our workflow across the enterprise and gain visibility into our performance so that we can make smart decisions that help us achieve our cost and quality goals."

For anesthesia care providers at MSHA, easy-to-use automated electronic documentation and consistent workflow processes in SIS enable them to spend less time documenting and more time focusing on patient care – regardless of which facility they support. 

"Workflow Wizards in SIS Anesthesia drive the documentation process, making it incredibly easy to use, while seamless patient and application context sharing between SIS and Siemens Clinicals helps enable our clinicians to access information and document care without duplicating efforts," notes Dr. Ian Darling , Chief of Anesthesia at Johnson City Medical Center who led system design decisions for MSHA's anesthesia information management system (AIMS). "With consistent workflow across the organization, SIS gives us the flexibility to circulate staff – from anesthesia care providers to nurses – to other MSHA facilities where they use the same processes to help them deliver the most efficient, high-quality, patient-centric care possible."

Combining SIS' deep expertise in surgery and anesthesia with Siemens' enterprise connectivity is simplifying information accessibility and exchange for hospitals and health systems of all sizes.

"As a 13-hospital healthcare system, robust interoperability was essential to MSHA's strategy," said Ed Daihl , SIS Chief Executive Officer. "It's an honor to work closely with their innovative leadership to deliver meaningful data needed to support their safety, efficiency, and financial goals."