Adventist Health Home Care Installs Cerner BeyondNow

Adventist Health Home Care recently implemented Cerner BeyondNow. The cutting-edge software—which went live at all 14 Adventist Health agencies in November—provides innovative electronic solutions that enhance patient safety, reduce paperwork, offer clinicians remote access to patient charts, accelerate third-party reimbursement and enable the sharing of information between the home care setting and other providers.

“We researched several of the top EMR solutions for our agencies,” stated Sherry Mendoza, director of Home Care Services for Adventist Health. “The Cerner product is one of the best out there and has the ability to interface with Project IntelliCare.”

Installing the software throughout the system was no small feat and followed a very aggressive timeline. In all, 415 PC tablets were programmed for clinicians—featuring touch-screen commands and the ability for users to pen notes directly onto the computer screen, which flow seamlessly into a patient’s chart.

First and foremost, Cerner BeyondNow will improve patient care. However, the new technology comes with a host of other benefits. Along with better, safer care it will enhance communication between caregivers, improve patient information security and allow clinicians access to records and information at anytime from any location. In addition, in instances where agencies work closely with hospital pharmacies to provide infusion therapy to home health and hospice patients, hospital pharmacies can now have access to home care patient data, which will help prevent medication errors.

The first phase of Cerner BeyondNow was implemented in time to meet government changes to the OASIS assessment, which take effect on January 1, 2010. OASIS is a key component of Medicare's partnership with the home care industry to foster and monitor improved home health care outcomes. The new software will make OASIS updates automatically and eliminate the need for Adventist Health to update its “home grown” assessment tool.

The second phase of the project, which will begin early next year, will incorporate physician access and interactivity. It also will include PDAs for home health aides that will interface with the electronic medical record.