MALVERN, Pa. -- In a milestone event for the Long Island, N.Y. healthcare community and patients, Mineola, New York's Winthrop-University Hospital has become the first voluntary hospital on Long Island to implement computerized provider order entry (CPOE), which enables Winthrop physicians and clinical providers to securely enter patient care orders and review medical profiles online. CPOE is one of the keys to achieving healthcare providers' electronic health record (EHR) strategies, while driving process efficiency and helping to advance quality and patient safety initiatives. Joining the nearly 20,000 physicians in the U.S. who use Siemens Medical Solutions INVISION(R) CPOE, Winthrop is setting a high standard for patient care in the region by leveraging the power of healthcare information technology (IT) to support their clinicians in delivering safe, effective patient care.


"By embracing information technology solutions such as CPOE and bar code technology for medication administration, we are continuing our commitment to providing world-class healthcare services," said Steven Fishbane, M.D., executive committee chairman for the CPOE implementation at Winthrop. "We are pleased to be working with Siemens to become the first not-for-profit hospital in Long Island to put such powerful technologies into action, while also helping to improve our clinical workflow."


Through the CPOE software, online notifications signal clinicians to potential medication conflicts, allergies, drug-to-drug interactions, duplicate order checking, and other patient safety considerations. In addition, the system is Web-based and uses point-and-click navigation tools - a feature that eases physician, physician assistant, and provider assimilation and system adoption. These critical design elements consider the workflow within a busy healthcare facility, and ultimately make it easier for clinicians to make the right decisions at the right time, so they can spend more time treating patients and less time tracking down data from multiple sources as is typically associated with the traditional paper medical record.


"CPOE is not just about automating order entry," said Janet Dillione, president, Healthcare IT Division, Siemens Medical Solutions. "It is about creating an interactive care approach and providing the tools for improved communication among care providers. Winthrop's use of our solutions is a clear indication of the organization's commitment to raising the bar on healthcare quality and patient safety in its community."


Along with CPOE, Winthrop currently uses Siemens Pharmacy information system and will further enhance its patient safety processes by implementing Siemens Med Administration Check(TM). The fully integrated system will use bar code technology to verify and fully document the five rights of medication administration by providing real-time prevention of potential administration errors for drug, dose, route, time or patient. With all three systems in place, Winthrop will join an elite group of Siemens customers who have established a complete closed-loop medication process from the physician's initial order all the way to administration at the patient's bedside.


The effort to implement these automated systems to support patient safety and care has required a significant investment by the Winthrop and Siemens' teams and has received unstinting support from Winthrop's administration. According to John F. Collins, Winthrop's vice president and chief financial officer, "Winthrop is proud to take the technological lead on Long Island through our partnership with Siemens. Our CPOE initiative will be quickly followed by the implementation of applications for automated medication administration and multidisciplinary clinical documentation. All three of these applications form the foundation to help Winthrop achieve our goal of an electronic medical record by the end of the decade."


Founded in 1896 by a group of local physicians and concerned citizens, Winthrop-University Hospital is a 591-bed, university-affiliated medical center and Level 1 Regional Trauma Center that offers sophisticated diagnostic and therapeutic care in virtually every specialty and subspecialty of medicine and surgery. As Long Island's first voluntary hospital, Winthrop offers a broad range of inpatient and outpatient programs and services for the newborn through the elderly, serving a patient population primarily from Nassau, Suffolk and Queens Counties. The hospital has nearly 5,000 employees, including approximately 700 nurses and 1,400 full-time and voluntary attending physicians.


Siemens Medical Solutions of Siemens AG (SI) with headquarters in Malvern, Pennsylvania, and Erlangen, Germany, is one of the largest suppliers to the healthcare industry in the world. The company is known for bringing together innovative medical technologies, healthcare information systems, management consulting, and support services, to help customers achieve tangible, sustainable, clinical and financial outcomes. Employing approximately 33,000 people worldwide and operating in more than 120 countries, Siemens Medical Solutions reported sales of 7.6 billion EUR, orders of 8.6 billion EUR and group profit of 976 million EUR for fiscal 2005. More information can be obtained by visiting www.usa.siemens.com/medical-pressroom.

SOURCE: Siemens Medical Solutions

Siemens Medical SolutionsMolly Grasso, 610-448-4729molly.grasso@siemens.com