Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center Becomes First Children's Hospital To Win Davies Award

MALVERN, Pa., Aug. 29 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Reduced medical errors, improved clinical efficiency, and increased clinician and patient satisfaction helped Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center (CCHMC) become the only winner of the 2003 Nicholas E. Davies EMR (electronic medical record) Recognition Program Award of Excellence, sponsored by the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS). It is also the first children's hospital to win the prestigious award. Siemens Medical Solutions INVISION(R) computerized physician order entry (CPOE) and clinical documentation solutions are at the heart of this achievement as CCHMC strives to be the leader in improving child health.

Clinical outcome improvements at CCHMC include: -- elimination of transcription errors in medication orders -- a 50% reduction in medication errors -- a 52% improvement in medication turnaround times -- a 24% reduction in verbal orders for controlled substances -- 100% compliance with pain assessment documentation requirements defined by state regulatory agencies

"Siemens congratulates Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center on winning this prestigious award, and is proud to be one of their technology partners," said Wilfried Baldauf-Sobez, M.D., group vice president of clinical systems at Siemens Medical Solutions Health Services Corp. "We've proven many times with many customers that harnessing the power of information technology can help healthcare institutions provide the highest standard of care and protect the safety of patients in any care setting. As a leading company providing healthcare information solution products and services, Siemens believes that CCHMC's success will further propel the marriage of technology and healthcare."

To help achieve their outcomes, CCHMC implemented an enterprise-wide integrated clinical information system (ICIS) that provides advanced, pediatric-specific clinical decision support tools from a variety of information technology (IT) partners, as well as solutions developed in-house. IT solutions were just part of a larger process re-engineering effort to facilitate improved care delivery, led by a multi-disciplinary CCHMC team including representatives from nursing, medicine, patient management, patient services, information services, registration, utilization review, scheduling, finance, and materials management.

"Our vision is to be the leader in improving child health, and Siemens is helping us do that," explained Dr. Jacobs. "Combining information technology with process-reengineering is helping us realize that vision, and meet our strategic objectives of optimizing patient safety; optimizing consistency of care; improving clinician and patient care efficiency; maximizing regulatory compliance; and enhancing provider, patient, and family satisfaction."

The Nicholas E. Davies EMR Recognition Program encourages and recognizes excellence in the implementation of electronic medical record systems. The program recognizes healthcare provider organizations that successfully use EMR systems to improve healthcare delivery.

CCHMC is a 324-bed tertiary care freestanding children's hospital serving over 500,000 children in the southern Ohio, northern Kentucky, eastern Indiana, and western West Virginia region. It is the only pediatric center to receive the Pursuing Perfection Grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation in 2001. CCHMC's Brian Jacobs, M.D., associate professor of pediatrics and director of the CPOE rollout, is one of this year's winners of the Association of Medical Directors of Information Systems (AMDIS) Award. The Cincinnati Children's Research Foundation ranks third nationally among all pediatric centers in research grants from the National Institutes of Health. Additional information about Cincinnati Children's can be found at http://www.cincinnatichildrens.org/.

Siemens Medical Solutions of Siemens AG with headquarters in Malvern, Pennsylvania and Erlangen, Germany, is one of the largest suppliers to the healthcare industry in the world. The company is known for bringing together innovative medical technologies, healthcare information systems, management consulting, and support services, to help customers achieve tangible, sustainable, clinical and financial outcomes. From imaging systems for diagnosis, to therapy equipment for treatment, to patient monitors to hearing instruments and beyond, Siemens innovations contribute to the health and well-being of people across the globe, while improving operational efficiencies and optimizing workflow in hospitals, clinics, home health agencies, and doctors' offices. Employing approximately 31,000 people worldwide and operating in more than 120 countries, Siemens Medical Solutions reported sales of 7.6 billion EUR, orders of 8.4 billion EUR and group profit of 1 billion EUR for fiscal 2002. More information can be obtained by visiting http://www.usa.siemens.com/medical.

Siemens Medical Solutions

CONTACT: Christine Foy of Siemens Medical Solutions, +1-610-219-3163,
christine.foy@siemens.com

Web site: http://www.usa.siemens.com/medical