Hospitals eye order entry

Computerized order entry has been linked to improved patient safety, says a new study by the Leapfrog Group.

By Tyler Chin, amednews staff. Feb. 11, 2002.

Only 3.3% of hospitals have implemented computerized physician order entry systems, but another 30% plan to install the technology during the next two years, according to a survey by the Leapfrog Group.

The coalition of Fortune 500 companies received 241 responses to a survey of hospitals in California, Minnesota, Tennessee, Atlanta, St. Louis and Seattle.

Members of the coalition have said they will favor hospitals that adopt CPOE systems because some studies have shown the technology can reduce serious medical errors by more than 50% and save millions of dollars.

Some doctors agree that CPOE systems have considerable potential to improve patient safety but expressed reservation about the pressure to rapidly implement technology that is relatively new and costly.

"The expense of implementing CPOE is almost cost prohibitive, and I'm concerned that it may divert resources from other patient safety initiatives and have some unintended negative consequences," said David O. Barbe, MD, a family physician at a 350-doctor multispecialty practice owned by Sisters of Mercy Health System. The St. Louis-based system has begun using a CPOE system at hospitals in St. Louis and Springfield, Mo.

Some doctors will have little choice but to enter orders on computers.

Los Angeles-based Cedars Sinai Health System, for example, will eliminate handwritten orders when it rolls out its CPOE system in May. And doctors will have to demonstrate they can use it before they will be allowed to practice at the institution, said Michael Langberg, MD, Cedars Sinai's chief medical officer, at a Jan. 17 news conference.

Cedars Sinai's system will give doctors alerts, reminders and other clinical decision support at the time they enter orders, giving them the data they need to make the best decisions, Dr. Langberg said.