DSS, Inc. and Hospira Complete the Department of Veterans Affairs’ Innovation Initiative Adverse Drug Events Pilot Program to Further Enhance Veteran Care

Solution Provides Comprehensive View into Patient Medications, Dosage and Problem Lists to Minimize the Risk for Adverse Drug Events

DSS, Inc., the leading provider of software development and support for VistA and vxVistA, in partnership with Hospira (NYSE: HSP), the world's leading provider of injectable drugs and infusion technologies, today announced the completion of the Department of Veterans Affairs’ (VA) Innovation Initiative Adverse Drug Events (ADE) project. The pilot program provides a new decision support system in five VA Medical Centers that alerts clinicians to potential drug-related risks to help prevent adverse events before they occur with patients.

Prior to the start of the pilot, DSS and Hospira integrated TheraDoc software, a clinical surveillance application, with VistA, the VA’s electronic health record. TheraDoc was the focus of a recent VA Case Study published in Electronic Healthcare by South Texas Veterans Healthcare System (STVHS), a 268-bed facility in San Antonio, TX. In addition to enabling STVHS to prevent an additional 261 adverse drug events in 2010, the study concluded that the use of TheraDoc for clinical surveillance “resulted in improved patient outcomes, reduction in adverse drug events, and antimicrobial costs and enhanced surveillance and tracking of multi-drug resistant organisms (MDROs)”.1

“With ADEs accounting for an increasing number of patient abnormalities and mortality rates, we’re proud to collaborate with DSS on this project to help minimize this risk,” said France Pitera, vice president, Clinical Information Technology, at Hospira. “TheraDoc not only helps clinicians analyze medication data but also alerts them to potential adverse events, helping to save time, lower costs and improve compliance.”

To ensure interoperability between departments and successful integration of TheraDoc with VistA, DSS developed three new data interfaces as platforms to assist clinicians in the ADE alert process, including:

• An outpatient pharmacy interface listing all medications from active to inactive prescriptions, providing clinicians with a holistic view of a patient’s history as it relates to ADEs;
• A problem list interface, allowing clinicians to create custom alerts and view patient problem lists along with their admissions diagnosis; and
• A bar-coded medication administration (BCMA) interface that hosts medication administration records, allowing providers and pharmacists to see specific details about dosage and patient alerts.

“Now that the 13-month Innovations project is complete, we look forward to gathering informative, actionable results over the next year as VA Medical Centers interact with the TheraDoc system in a live environment,” said Mark Byers, CEO and president of DSS. “This project serves as yet another example of how the open source, VistA system can be quickly adapted to meet the ongoing demands in healthcare, including ways to establish a safer environment for patients.”

The VA Innovation Initiative project is designed to create new, cutting edge solutions to help the VA improve quality service, enhance operations, reduce or control costs of care and ultimately better provide for Veterans in the complex, technology-driven healthcare space. At the time of selection, the ADE pilot project was among only one percent of ideas selected from more than 10,000 submitted.

About DSS, Inc.

DSS, Inc. is a Health Information Technology (HIT) software development and systems integration company that provides an open source Electronic Health Record (EHR), vxVistA, with extensions for behavioral health, radiology, oncology and dentistry, among other specialties. vxVistA is based on the Department of Veterans Affairs’ award-winning VistA system, which is proven to reduce costs and enhance the quality of patient care.

For more than 20 years we have specialized in healthcare IT solutions that improve quality and productivity. In order to support use of open source software in healthcare organizations, DSS is founder and supporter of a community-driven, collaboration environment, www.vxVistA.org, that acts as a forum for discussion and best practices among all VistA users, including clinical and administrative staff, new adopters, C-suite executives and developers. For more information on DSS, Inc., visit www.dssinc.com.

About Hospira's TheraDoc Clinical Surveillance System

Hospira's TheraDoc clinical surveillance system has been chosen by more than 440 U.S. hospitals and healthcare facilities, making critical patient information and medical knowledge readily available to help clinicians intervene quickly, prescribe appropriately and improve the quality of patient care. The TheraDoc Clinical Intelligence™ Platform is the engine that powers several knowledge modules, including the Infection Control Assistant™, Antibiotic Assistant™, ADE Assistant™, Clinical Alerts Assistant™ and Anticoagulation Assistant™. For more information, visit www.theradoc.com or call (801) 415-4400.

About Hospira

Hospira, Inc. is the world's leading provider of injectable drugs and infusion technologies. Through its broad, integrated portfolio, Hospira is uniquely positioned to Advance Wellness™ by improving patient and caregiver safety while reducing healthcare costs. The company is headquartered in Lake Forest, Ill., and has approximately 15,000 employees. Learn more at www.hospira.com.

1 Echevarria K, Smith G, et al. Utility of an Electronic Clinical Surveillance System to Facilitate Tracking of Multidrug-Resistant Organisms (MDRO) and Antimicrobial Stewardship in a VA Medical Center. ElectronicHealthcare. 2011 Vol.10 No.2:e30–e37.

Contacts

Dodge Communications
Leslie Kirk, 770-576-2576
[email protected]