Mendocino Coast District Hospital

MCDH has purchased a cutting-edge Health Care Information System from MEDITECH that will, for the first time, electronically join together the clinical, financial and administrative areas of the Hospital.

The majority of the funding for the MEDITECH system came from a generous contribution from the Mendocino Coast Hospital Foundation, and therefore does not affect the Hospital’s operating budget. “We’re lucky to have such a supportive group of people in our Foundation, because this is really going to help us in so many ways,” says Emmet O’Connell, Director of Clinical Laboratory Systems.

Gayle Ensign, Board President for the Hospital Foundation, says, “The Hospital Foundation recognizes the importance of providing the best equipment and technology for our Hospital that we can, and that’s why we made the commitment to provide $750,000 over three years from our Winesong! event to purchase MEDITECH.” The Hospital Foundation has been supporting MCDH needs for over 20 years, though this was the first time such a large, multi-year project was funded.

“The MEDITECH system will enable the Hospital to increase the quality of patient care and patient safety, and to improve the turnaround time in treating patients,” says Marg Murray, Chief of Patient Care Services. She explained that different Departments within the Hospital currently use disparate information systems that have at times made it difficult to link with each other, and that to provide better patient care, it is necessary to share information across the hospital. “This is our first real chance to implement such a system,” she adds.

Deb Silva, Director of Obstetrical Services, explains, “From a nursing perspective, the new system will help us to improve patient care by being able to pull up electronic medical information more rapidly for physicians, and by allowing us to spend more time at the patient’s bedside rather than filling out paper documentation.” Nurses currently spend about four hours per day on charting, and the new system will cut that time dramatically, adding to nurses’ job satisfaction and enrichment by giving them more time to perform their professional services.

“We anticipate that the new software will improve both nurses’ and physicians’ ability to work more safely and efficiently. Previously, the clinical floors were the only ones that had no automation, relying strictly on paper documentation,” adds Amber Curtis, Manager of Information Services at MCDH. Now the laboratory, radiology, pharmacy, nursing and registration will be on the same system and will be able to coordinate services and work together in an improved way.

The decision to implement a new information system was made based on clinical, quality of care reasons. The MEDITECH system was selected by a team of MCDH physicians, nurses, clinicians, and financial and administrative staff who make up the Hospital’s Information Technology Committee. The Committee spent two years conducting a thorough search for the right technology, which included multiple visits to other hospital sites to examine the information systems they had in place.

MEDITECH is a leading healthcare information software vendor out of Boston, MA, with more than 1,800 customers worldwide, including 23% of the U.S. market. Since 1969, MEDITECH has been serving hospitals, ambulatory care centers, physicians offices, long-term care, behavioral health facilities and home health organizations.

“We have the same obligations that any health care organization in the industry has, and we want to provide the same standard of health care that you’d find in any major urban center,” says Jerry Wood, Director of Diagnostic Imaging Services. With an overwhelming number of hospitals nationwide moving toward paperless operation, Wood explained that without a new information system, MCDH would not be able to provide a comparable level of service in terms of patient safety, quality of care, and turnaround time.

The unveiling of the new system will coincide with the completion of a newly constructed building, which will house a new outpatient services wing and a business office. The new building is scheduled to be completed in October 2004.

Jacob Lewis, CFO, says, “We are happy that we will soon be able to relocate our business office staff from their present downtown office. The business office consolidation, along with having new, more advanced financial software, will undoubtedly improve our staff’s ability to do their jobs, offering a significant return on investment in the long run.”

CEO Bryan Ballard agrees that these changes at the Hospital will set the stage for significant efficiencies over the long term while improving patient care. “Our Hospital’s expansion, coupled with the new cutting-edge technology, will strongly support our constant drive to provide our patients with safe, quality care,” he concludes.

Top of Page