healthy4u: University of Arizona Medical Center

"We’ve resolved 6,036 issues and have 3,517 open issues": Extolling EPIC EHR Virtues at University of Arizona Health System

The public may believe that, in healthcare, only the Obamacare insurance exchange website has lots of bugs.  On those, see my Oct. 10. 2013 post "Drudge Report, Oct. 10, 2013, 9 AM EST: All that needs to be said about government, computing and healthcare" at <a href="http://hcrenewal.blogspot.com/2013/10/drudge-report-oct-10-2013-9-am-est-all.html">http://hcrenewal.blogspot.com/2013/10/drudge-report-oct-10-2013-9-am-est-all.html</a>. Another pillar of the Affordable Care Act, electronic medical records (promoted with incentives for adopters and with penalties for non-adopters via the HITECH section of the 2009 economic recovery act or ARRA) are pretty damn bad themselves.  Only, those systems don't make it hard to find insurance.  Through bugs and other features of bad health IT, they directly interfere with safety and provision of quality care: <blockquote class="tr_bq">Bad Health IT ("BHIT") is ill-suited to purpose, hard to use, unreliable, loses data or provides incorrect data, is difficult and/or prohibitively expensive to customize to the needs of different medical specialists and subspecialists, causes cognitive overload, slows rather than facilitates users, lacks appropriate alerts, creates the need for hypervigilance (i.e., towards avoiding IT-related mishaps) that increases stress, is lacking in security, compromises patient privacy or otherwise demonstrates suboptimal design and/or implementation.  </blockquote> At my Oct. 20, 2010 post "Medical center has more than 6000 'issues' with Cerner CPOE system in four months - has patient harm resulted?" (<a href="http://hcrenewal.blogspot.com/2010/10/medical-center-has-more-than-6000.html">http://hcrenewal.blogspot.com/2010/10/medical-center-has-more-than-6000.html</a>) I observed: <blockquote class="tr_bq">From the October 2010 "News for Physicians affiliated with Munson Medical Center" newsletter, a large medical center in Northern Michigan, about more than six thousand "issues" with their Cerner CPOE. ... One wonders how many of those 6,000, and how many of the 600 remaining "issues" <a href="http://hcrenewal.blogspot.com/2009/03/draft-patient-rights-statement-and.html">fall into categories of</a> "likely to cause patient harm in short term if uncorrected" or "may cause in patient harm in medium or long term." I note that Cerner CPOE is not a new product, nor are similar products from other vendors also afflicted with long lists of "issues." That there could be more than 6,000 "issues" at a new site suggests deep rooted, severe problems with CPOE specifically and health IT design and implementation processes in general. </blockquote> Here's another such multi-"issue"-laden EHR, this at University of Arizona Health Network.  Image of frequent periodic "EHR Update" below. <table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgZkzPXU8Sfpv_3NWc4TPK2B79BvEEnxLU1_Y6OAXuVdcPoJYfHmde-XQXkeW7gO1iLUDVxRtzTpO7be0qDVU4nCD88O45plTy_9168SBdVJ2EiVBb9yChYToK_5OQJfDRSOyh6NF-HqUv/s1600/U_Az2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgZkzPXU8Sfpv_3NWc4TPK2B79BvEEnxLU1_Y6OAXuVdcPoJYfHmde-XQXkeW7gO1iLUDVxRtzTpO7be0qDVU4nCD88O45plTy_9168SBdVJ2EiVBb9yChYToK_5OQJfDRSOyh6NF-HqUv/s1600/U_Az2.jpg" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"We’ve resolved 6,036 issues and have 3,517 open issues."</td></tr></tbody></table><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div> [Ignore the 'kewl dark sunglasses' worn by the hipsters at the top of this announcement.  Not sure if this has something to do with EPIC, but I consider the wearing of dark sunglasses by clinicians or any other staff in a hospital setting - where people are sick and/or dying - to be in exceptionally bad taste.] The text starts: <blockquote class="tr_bq">ISSUES UPDATE as of 4:00 p.m., Nov. 8 We’ve resolved 6,036 issues and have 3,517 open issues.</blockquote> That's a total of nearly ten thousand "issues."  As of now, that is.  "Issue" is a euphemism for "glitch" a.k.a. "software defect" and/or "implementation error", see <a href="http://hcrenewal.blogspot.com/search/label/glitch">http://hcrenewal.blogspot.com/search/label/glitch</a>. These "issues" are  in a supposedly "mature" product for which this organization has spent enormous sums of money, that has undergone "innovation" for several decades now - in an environment free from regulation, I might add. Many of the "issues" reduce patient safety, and could or already may have resulted in patient harm.  Such items on this listing, seen below, which is updated frequently, include: <ul></ul><blockquote class="tr_bq"><ul><li>Pharmacy Medication Mapping Errors – Making good progress: watch for further notices.  [Perhaps these should have been tested and fixed before go-live? - ed.]</li></ul><ul><li>Microbiology Results Mapping Incorrectly [does that mean "mapping" to the wrong patient? - ed.]  – all known errors fixed, monitoring and working on enhancements. [As above, perhaps these should have been tested and fixed before go-live? - ed.]</li></ul><ul><li>Prescription printing - output for prescription printing has been fixed</li></ul><ul><li>Refill requests for providers will be routed to the CLIN SUPPORT In Basket pool for the provider’s department.  This was a decision made by UAHN leadership. [Not sure why this is being done; perhaps for approval by managers? - ed.]  </li></ul><ul><li>Errors transmitting prescriptions will also be sent to the CLIN SUPPORT In Basket.  [Errors transmitting prescriptions? That's not reassuring regarding data integrity.  See ECRI report below  - ed.]</li></ul></blockquote><ul></ul> This is not to mention that all of the "reminders" that follow are a distraction to clinical personnel, who cannot be expected to remember all of them. Bad as this is, at my April 1, 2012 post "University of Arizona Medical Center, $10 million in the red in operations, to spend $100M on new EHR system" (<a href="http://hcrenewal.blogspot.com/2012/04/university-of-arizona-medical-center-10.html">http://hcrenewal.blogspot.com/2012/04/university-of-arizona-medical-center-10.html</a>) I observed that: <blockquote class="tr_bq">... $100 million+ is probably enough to pay for AN ENTIRE NEW HOSPITAL or hospital wing ... or a lot of human medical records professionals. </blockquote> To add more bitter icing to this cake, I wrote about a campaign for clinicians to speak only in wonderful terms about the new U. Arizona Health System EHR at my Oct. 3, 2013 post "Words that Work: Singing Only Positive - And Often Unsubstantiated - EHR Praise As 'Advised' At The University Of Arizona Health Network."  I observed the following about the "words that work" is the shameless 'suggested' script: <blockquote class="tr_bq">• Efficient - see aforementioned links as well as "Common Examples of Healthcare IT Difficulties" at <a href="http://cci.drexel.edu/faculty/ssilverstein/cases/">http://cci.drexel.edu/faculty/ssilverstein/cases/</a> • Convenient - as above.  According to whom?  Compared to what?  Pen and paper? • Improves patient safety and quality - see IOM report post at <a href="http://hcrenewal.blogspot.com/2011/11/iom-report-on-health-it-safety-nix-fda.html">http://hcrenewal.blogspot.com/2011/11/iom-report-on-health-it-safety-nix-fda.html</a> .  We as a nation are only now studying safety of this technology, and the results are not looking entirely convincing, e.g. ECRI Deep Dive Study of health IT safety at <a href="http://hcrenewal.blogspot.com/2013/02/peering-underneath-icebergs-water-level.html">http://hcrenewal.blogspot.com/2013/02/peering-underneath-icebergs-water-level.html</a>.  171 health IT mishaps in 36 hospitals, voluntarily reported over 9 weeks, with 8 reported injuries and 3 reported possible deaths is not what I would call something that "improves patient safety and quality" without qualifications. • The Cadillac of its kind - according to whom? • Patients at hospitals using this system love it -  Do most patients even know what it, or any EHR, looks like?  Have they provided informed consent to its use? • Exciting - clinician surveys such as by physicians at <a href="http://hcrenewal.blogspot.com/2010/01/honest-physician-survey-on-ehrs.html">http://hcrenewal.blogspot.com/2010/01/honest-physician-survey-on-ehrs.html</a> and by nurses at <a href="http://hcrenewal.blogspot.com/2013/07/candid-nurse-opinions-on-ehrs-at.html">http://hcrenewal.blogspot.com/2013/07/candid-nurse-opinions-on-ehrs-at.html</a> shed doubt on that assertion. • The best thing for our patients - again, according to whom? • Sophisticated new system - "New"?  Not so much, just new for U. Arizona Health.  "Sophisticated", as if that's a virtue?  Too much "sophistication" is in part what causes clinician stress and burnout, raising risk</blockquote> Considering the near 10,000 issues, the new ECRI Institute report "Top Ten Technology Hazards in Healthcare", 2014 edition comes to mind (<a href="https://www.ecri.org/Press/Pages/2014_Top_Ten_Hazards.aspx">https://www.ecri.org/Press/Pages/2014_Top_Ten_Hazards.aspx</a>).  Named in that report, as has been the case for the past several years, is healthcare IT.  This year's problem description is: <blockquote class="tr_bq">#4. Data Integrity Failures in EHRs and other Health IT Systems</blockquote> "Data integrity failures" include "issues" (per the bad health IT description) such as: data loss, data corruption, data attributed to the wrong patient, etc. <blockquote class="tr_bq"> ECRI Institute, a nonprofit organization, dedicates itself to bringing the discipline of applied scientific research to healthcare to discover which medical procedures, devices, drugs, and processes are best to enable improved patient care. As pioneers in this science for 45 years, ECRI Institute marries experience and independence with the objectivity of evidence-based research. Strict conflict-of-interest guidelines ensure objectivity. ECRI Institute is designated an Evidence-based Practice Center by the U.S. Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. ECRI Institute PSO is listed as a federally certified Patient Safety Organization by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. For more information, visit <a href="http://www.ecri.org/">www.ecri.org</a>.</blockquote> ECRI also produced the 2012 Deep Dive Study of Health IT Risk (<a href="http://hcrenewal.blogspot.com/2013/02/peering-underneath-icebergs-water-level.html">http://hcrenewal.blogspot.com/2013/02/peering-underneath-icebergs-water-level.html</a>), where in a volunteer study at 36 member PSO hospitals, 171 health IT "mishaps" were reported in just 9 weeks, 8 of which caused patient injury and 3 of which may have contribute to patient death. In summary, The University of Arizona Health System, with components in the red, is spending hundreds of millions of dollars on an EHR system, that has had decades to mature. Yet, they are finding 10,000 "issues" already, a number of which reduce patient safety and are unresolved, with many more likely to be found. They are also 'advising' their staff to speak in glowing, unsubstantiated terms to patients about an EHR system that has 10,000 issues, and not seeking patient consent to its use in mediating and regulating their care - or giving elective patients the information that might allow them to choose another less "buggy" hospital. If (when) patient harm results from such cavalier hospital (mis)management, the juries are going to just love the dark sunglasses, I bet. -- SS

"We’ve resolved 6,036 issues and have 3,517 open issues": Extolling EPIC EHR Virtues at University of Arizona Health System

The public may believe that, in healthcare, only the Obamacare insurance exchange website has lots of bugs. On those, see my Oct. 10. 2013 post "Drudge Report, Oct. 10, 2013, 9 AM EST: All that need…

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09 Nov 2013

University of Arizona Medical Center, $10 million in the red in operations, to spend $100M on new EHR system

In my Oct. 2006 post "<a href="http://hcrenewal.blogspot.com/2006/10/70-million-for-electronic-medical.html">$70 million for an Electronic Medical Records system?</a>" I wrote: <blockquote> ... healthcare doesn’t have the capital for clinical IT misadventures, and I believe when the issues become more public in this industry sector and information flows about mismanagement and abuses (as is happening in the UK ’s <a href="http://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/health/s/219/219945_leaked_papers_reveal_nhs_computer_problems.html" target="blank">Connecting for Health </a>project) [now abandoned <a href="http://hcrenewal.blogspot.com/2011/09/npfit-programme-going-pffft.html">as described here</a> - ed.], the fallout won’t be pretty. </blockquote> Here's an example of an organization in profound ardent technophile-driven <a href="http://hcrenewal.blogspot.com/2012/02/health-it-ddulites-and-irrational.html">Ddulite mode</a>: <blockquote> <a href="http://azstarnet.com/business/local/ua-medical-center-to-spend-m-on-new-records-system/article_a0866af4-9890-502f-8454-530cebf71bcf.html?mode=story">UA Medical Center to spend $100M on new records system</a> Tucson's largest health-care organization expects to spend upward of $100 million on getting its two hospitals talking to each other. Right now, the inpatient medical record systems at the University of Arizona Medical Center's two campuses aren't speaking to each other. The lack of communication is resulting in more work for healthcare providers in the University of Arizona Health Network. [How much more work, exactly, and how much would a non-cybernetic solution cost? These issues seem never to be mentioned - ed.] The $1.2 billion, nonprofit company employs nearly 7,000 people. The network is installing a new, uniform electronic medical records system for all patients at its two hospitals - UA Medical Center - University Campus and UA Medical Center - South Campus - and at outpatient centers as well. ... Project leaders predict it will result in a more efficient organization with fewer medication errors and better patient care. ... The new system's benefits will certainly trickle down to patients, said Clint Hinman, an experienced pharmacy director within the network who is directing the computer upgrade program. [Note once again the absolutist statements of deterministic benefit and beneficence, based on scant supportive evidence and increasing contradictory evidence, that I bolded above - ed.] </blockquote><div style="overflow: hidden; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); text-align: left; text-decoration: none; border: medium none;">I note that $100 million+ is probably enough to pay for AN ENTIRE NEW HOSPITAL or hospital wing ... or a lot of human medical records professionals. Executives and project leaders have probably never read any of the literature at the reading list <a href="http://hcrenewal.blogspot.com/2011/02/updated-reading-list-on-health-it.html">here</a> or at my academic site <a href="http://www.ischool.drexel.edu/faculty/ssilverstein/cases/">here</a>, or if they have, choose to be blind to it and trusting of literature such as ONC's sloppy-science "should not have been published in its present form" health IT cheerleading <a href="http://hcrenewal.blogspot.com/2011/03/benefits-of-health-information.html">here</a>. Most important of all: It's not advisable to gamble with $100 million in that fashion, especially under these conditions: <blockquote>... BUDGET ISSUES Spending $100-million-plus on electronic medical records is a lot of money for a network that as of mid-January was at $10 million in the red in operations, BUT network spokeswoman Katie Riley said the electronic medical records are not to blame. [Capitalization and emphasis of the "but" mine - ed.] </blockquote> This statement is both representative of a healthcare system gone overboard - you don't spend on luxuries when you're $10 million in the red - and is a non-sequitur. Who cares if the EHR's are not to blame for the system being $10 million in the red? That does not seem like a good reason to go ahead and spend $100 million (which will probably balloon to several times that figure, hence I will use $100 million++) on a very risky gamble. Further, all it will take is a few of <a href="http://hcrenewal.blogspot.com/2012/03/expensive-healthcare-computing-mistake.html">these mishaps</a> to put the system further in the red. I should also ask: will medical and other staff be laid off to afford the new systems, in effect trading people for computers? To spend $100 million++ on HIT when you're already $10 million in the red on operations is, in my view, financially reckless. -- SS </div>

University of Arizona Medical Center, $10 million in the red in operations, to spend $100M on new EHR system

In my Oct. 2006 post "$70 million for an Electronic Medical Records system?" I wrote:... healthcare doesn’t have the capital for clinical IT misadventures, and I believe when the issues become more p…

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01 Apr 2012