Meditech 5.6

Kathy Quinlivan, regional information officer at Avera Sacred Heart, addresses the question, “What’s all the talk about the Meditech 5.6 upgrade and meaningful use?”, in the Summer 2010 Avera bulletin.

KATHY, HELP US UNDERSTAND WHAT MEDITECH 5.6 REALLY IS.

“By now you have likely heard about the update, but you may be wondering why there has been so much time devoted to it. After all, we have had many updates in the past, so why does this one seem like a bigger deal?

“While we have had smaller updates, called ‘priority packs’ or ‘top offs,’ it actually has been almost three years since a full-version update. The last larger update was in August 2007, just prior to the Avera standards go-live at the Avera McKennan region. Meditech recommends taking priority-pack updates every six to nine months and full-version updates every 12 to 24 months to keep up with the latest error corrections, enhancements and changes in functionality.”

WHEN IS THE UPDATE HAPPENING?

“Go-live is scheduled for Nov. 18, 2010. Here is the general timeline for the 5.6 project:

February-March 2010 – New test databases setup and software conversion

January-April 2010 – Web-based training for team members

May-July 2010 – First round of testing

July 2010 – Software top-off for the latest set of changes

August-September 2010 – Integrated testing by super-user teams

October-November 2010 – End-user training

Nov. 18, 2010 – Meditech 5.6 software conversion of live databases

“This is the first full-version update Avera has taken since implementing Avera HealtheCARE ™, our electronic medical record (EMR), at most facilities in the five regions and at the clinics. With our current shared system, 22 hospitals, seven long-term-care facilities and 48 clinics will receive the updated software at the same time. With so many facilities, we need to be very careful in testing and training to minimize issues for employees, physicians, patients and residents.”

HOW DID AVERA ARR IVE AT THIS SCHEDULE ?

“Due to regional Avera HealtheCARE rollouts, the LSS clinic implementations and the large number of facilities, Avera IT and Administration carefully reviewed options on timing for the update. One of the main reasons to proceed with Meditech 5.6 at this time is to make sure we are ready for the federal meaningful-use requirements.  Meditech and LSS have determined the 5.6 version has most of the functionality needed for meaningful use and have committed to making any changes needed based on the final draft of the meaningful-use criteria.”

CAN YOU HELP US UNDERSTA ND MEANINGFUL USE ?

“‘Meaningful use’ is a term that arose from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, Health Information Technology Act. The purpose of the legislation is to encourage health care providers to adopt EMRs to improve patient safety and outcomes. The federal government, through the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), will provide incentive payments to eligible providers whose EMR meets meaningful-use criteria by certain timeframes. There are inpatient/hospital criteria as well as ambulatory/clinic criteria with three-year adoption periods. If a provider does not meet criteria by 2015, CMS will reduce Medicare and Medicaid reimbursement. The criteria released in August 2009 and revised December 2009 was open for public comment until April. The final version of the criteria is expected by the end of the summer.

“Meditech 5.6 is one of the first steps toward meaningful use. Avera has committed to meet the meaningful-use criteria wherever possible to maximize reimbursement incentives and to avoid penalties in 2015. Avera is well on the way to implementation of an EMR with Avera HealtheCARE . The incentives do not change our overall goal, but may change timelines and priorities based on the new federal criteria.”

HOW IS THIS GO ING TO IMPACT MOST USERS ?

“We are working hard to make sure that the impact is well-understood. Avera-wide standards and regional teams meet regularly to review and test the software changes. Based on discussions with other hospital systems that have completed the Meditech 5.6 upgrade, changes to user access and the look and feel of the screens are the main issues. “End-user training will be very important, and dates and times for that training in each facility will be forthcoming shortly. We need to make sure all users in the hospitals, clinics and long-term-care facilities are comfortable with the new system and are able to find the information they need to take care of patients and residents at Avera on Nov. 18.”