First Posted: 2/23/2015
ST. MARYS — Adjusting to the the latest advances is a must for nearly all businesses. However, Joint Township District Memorial Hospital Chief of Information Services Lori Miller said that perhaps no industry feels that push more than healthcare.
JTDMH is part of Grand Lake Health System, which includes the hospital as well as affiliated practices in Celina, Minster, St. Marys and Wapakoneta.
“It is constant,” Miller said of advances at the hospital. “It is to the point now where you really are not changing, you are upgrading.”
Miller said the changes are so constant, literally there are always projects going on at the hospital. The changes can involve modernized methods and approaches, but most often those changes involve technology.
Several of those practices have recently been adopted by the hospital.
The health system recently joined the West Central Ohio Information Exchange Group, which allows all medical records to be exchanged and processed more quickly electronically.
“Physicians and healthcare teams can make quicker decisions,” Miller said. “In a business sense, it saves time. In a physical sense, it allows for better treatment.”
In January, the hospital also adopted a fetal monitoring system that allows obstetricians to monitor remotely without visiting a patient.
“The first day it took right off,” Miller said. “They can make decisions while out in the field.”
Miller said the health system now also has the ability to go live with physicians and exchange information, such as laboratory results. They can message the physician, who can immediately make recommendations.
“It is much more efficient,” Miller said.
Miller said the hospital must always use care to balance technological advances with business and clinical decisions, as well as accommodating quality, safety and privacy needs.
“Federal and state regulations are always being handed down,” Miller said. “The data integrity is elevated because it involves people. I don’t know if it is as much everything being driven by technology as much as we are driving the technology.”
Miller admitted that sometimes when modern practices are adopted, sometimes it is harder for older physicians to adapt.
“It is more normal now because the changes have been so prevalent the last 10 years,” Miller said. “The new healthcare workers are more tech savvy because they grew up with it. The older physicians are sometimes a little more resistant. Sometimes some of those that don’t want to come along look at it as an opportunity to retire.”
