First Planned Digital Hospital Delivers 21st Century Care

Boca Raton, FL - Eclipsys Corporation announced that the state of Georgia's first master-planned digital hospital is using Eclipsys Sunrise Clinical Manager(TM) and Knowledge-Based Charting(TM) advanced clinical information solutions to eliminate paper and integrate care. The 100- bed DeKalb Medical Center at Hillandale, located in a southeast suburb of metro Atlanta, opened July 18 as part of the growing DeKalb Medical Center hospital system.

"Everything in the new, six-story DeKalb Medical Center at Hillandale facility is digitized, from the heating and air conditioning systems to the Internet portals in each patient room," said Julia Hunter Jones, administrator of DeKalb Medical Center at Hillandale. "You won't see stacks of forms, nurses and doctors searching for charts, or other signs of antiquated care-delivery methods. They simply aren't here. Our digital environment provides much greater support for our clinical professionals and, most importantly, translates into a seamless hospital stay or doctor visit and overall better quality of care for our patients."

Critical support for strategic objectives
The hospital system has been using Sunrise Clinical Manager for more than a year at its 481-bed main campus and its 76-bed DeKalb Medical Center at Decatur facility. "The Eclipsys solutions play an extremely important role in helping us achieve our strategic objectives," said Eric Norwood, DeKalb Medical Center president and chief executive officer. "They are the foundation of our electronic medical record (EMR) initiative, which is one of our top strategic priorities."

"At its core, DeKalb Medical Center's goals come down to how we can best make our hospital system the place to receive and deliver care," said Cynthia Davis, the medical center's vice president of Information Technology and chief information officer. "With a year of Clinical Manager use under our belts, I can say firmly that today we are doing a better job of coordinating care, reducing the potential for medical errors, containing costs and increasing the satisfaction of physicians, nurses, other clinicians and patients alike. I can't imagine opening a digital hospital like DeKalb Medical Center at Hillandale without these solutions."

Cardiologist Cornelius Flowers, MD, chief of the medical staff at DeKalb Medical Center at Hillandale, agrees. "One of the big advantages of a master- planned digital hospital is that patient information is available instantly, in one place, helping eliminate duplicate tests and enabling doctors to make faster, more-informed decisions. As physicians, we really appreciate how Clinical Manager puts all of the information we need right at our fingertips - - wherever we are, day or night -- so we can guide the absolutely best care possible. It makes this a great place to practice."

"DeKalb Medical Center is an innovator at the forefront of healthcare providers that are harnessing the power of advanced technology to make a demonstrable difference in how medical care is provided," said Eugene V. Fife, Eclipsys chairman, president and CEO who toured the new facility two days after its opening. "We're proud to be the hospital system's information partner and to have our advanced software solutions at the core of this impressive, new digital facility and the hospital system's enterprise-wide electronic health record."

SOURCE: Eclipsys