Proposal

Room for Improvement


Overall, Somerset Medical Center is ahead of the game in managing their information systems and even over the standard expectations the government has on hospitals.  Their weaknesses are few in these areas, but two items have been noticed where changes are necessary for improvements.


Supply Management


Currently, SMC uses Lawson technologies to manage their supply department.  It is a cloud based server available on all work stations and company iPhones.  The single drawback is that it is not automatic.  If their food and hospitality department needs to order more cases of jello cups, the system would not know to do this on its own.  A supervisor is needed to detect the low amount of soup in stock and place an order through the Lawson application for more.  This applies across the board from batteries for equipment to bandages to patient gowns.  The only department managed with an automatic ordering process is their pharmaceutical department.
SMC could see an immediate improvement in the management of time and money with automated orders.  There would be less surplus and less shortages.  Their staff is already in a position with their handheld devices to implicate the data needed to manage their orders automatically.


Meaningful Use Level 2: Patient Interaction

President Obama signed into effect the The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act in 2009.  This Act began enforcing strict standards onto hospitals in the United States.  SMC was the second hospital in NJ to achieve level one, which was a standard regarding paperless operations.  SMC has recently achieved level two, which requires interaction with at least 5% of their discharged patients to confirm proper post discharge procedures.
Knowing that standards are going to be rising more until permanent implementation in 2015, SMC is looking for ways to raise their percentage of patient interaction.  The primary motivation for improvement in this category is that SMC does not receive any payment if a patient is readmitted because the patient failed to follow the hospital's instructions after returning home.  These new government standards are utilizing this tactic to ensure no hospital takes advantage of a patient while in the facility or even after they leave.  Accountability is mandatory.

There are two ways SMC can have successful interaction with their patients.  One is for younger, technically inclined patients, and the other is for elderly or technically illiterate patients.  They can create a database linked to their CERNER network that can prompt the first group of patients at home as necessary to take medication or take certain actions via a smart phone application.  It would be fully interactive, including a username and password, action notifications, along with confirmation commands of the required actions.  For the second group, SMC can interact with their patients via standard land line telephones also linked to CERNER.  At the beginning of the telephone alert, the patient would be required to enter the last four of their Social Security number to confirm their identity.  The telephone alert would then prompt them to take their medication or required action, and the patient would be required to acknowledge and confirm the requirements by pressing certain keys from the telephone keypad.

This could potentially increase their patient interaction to over 50% enabling them to meet the future demands of The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act and release them of responsibility for patients not willing to follow a doctor's post discharge instructions.