Miami VA Healthcare System Named “Analytics All Star” for Innovative Use of LiveData Technology in Healthcare Improvement
CAMBRIDGE, Mass., July 15, 2014 – LiveData today congratulated the Miami VA Healthcare System, for receiving Health Data Management’s top Award for Patient Safety Project of the Year. The award recognizes the impact that OR-Dashboard with Active Time Out, LiveData’s operational intelligence and patient safety solution, has had during its first year in use at the Bruce W. Carter VA Medical Center in Miami.
The U.S. Veterans Health Administration (VHA) initiatives to ensure correct surgery and improve operating room efficiency inspired leadership at the Miami VA Healthcare System to use a technology-enabled solution to improve patient safety, care quality, and operational efficiency. As part of these initiatives, in June 2013, Miami VA implemented LiveData OR-Dashboard™ with Active Time Out® (ATO) in all ten of its operating rooms to automate case workflow, surgical safety checklists, and integrate patient data with VistA (Veterans Health Information Systems and Technology Architecture). VistA is the VA’s Health Information Technology system that provides an integrated inpatient and outpatient electronic health record for VA patients.
Active Time Out is a comprehensive tool that automates the workflow of the surgical safety checklist and captures real-time data to provide a “deeper dive” set of analytics around the specific safety process for each and every surgical case. Before implementation, practices of manual audits and spot checks of fewer than 5% of surgical cases were nominal for improvements in outcomes and safety.
“A tried-but-true management adage is that you cannot improve what you don’t measure. Real-time data and automated analytics give us the tools we need to learn more about our processes so that we can continually improve our services to Veterans,” said Seth A. Spector, MD, Associate Chief of Staff for Perioperative Services and Chief of Surgery, Miami VA Healthcare System. “It is an honor to have our commitment to quality health care recognized byHealth Data Management.”
The Miami VA verified that one month after implementation, surgical safety checklist compliance increased. In November, Time Out averaged 58.7 seconds confirming that checklists were being completed actively and completely. First case on-time starts, a key efficiency measure, were only 37 percent in June 2013. Analysis of delays and remedial action moved first case on-time starts to 82% by November.
The implementation at the Miami VA Healthcare System combines KARL STORZ Endoscopy-America OR1® software suite and Document Storage Systems, Inc. (DSS) VistA integration, to provide comprehensive real-time data from electronic medical records, nursing, surgery, and anesthesia systems with surgical video, PACS images, and lab reports. Images and data are displayed side by side on large wall-mounted screens providing every member of the OR team with clear and immediate access to critical information about the patient, procedure, and equipment. DSS, Inc. provides seamless integration of commercial-off-the-shelf solutions that improve quality and productivity to VistA.
“The OR-Dashboard system at Bruce W. Carter Medical Center, and its associated data analytics, support continued process improvement and vigilance to ensure all surgery and invasive procedures are performed on the correct patient, at the correct site, and if applicable, with the correct implant,” said Dr. Spector. “Analysis of first case on-time starts support improved operational efficiency and better utilization of OR resources. Improved utilization has enabled more cases to be handled in the facility, reducing the length of wait times for surgery for veterans.”
HDM’s inaugural Analytics All Stars program recognizes organizations and individuals implementing analytics in innovative ways to improve the health of their patients and the financial performance of their organizations.
“What really stood out about VA Miami's analytical program is how the initiative led to enormous improvements in a very short timeframe," according to Greg Gillespie, Editor-in-Chief at Health Data Management. "Too often analytics yield useful insights that don't get acted upon; the fact that VA Miami launched a comprehensive program and the surgical staff embraced the new workflows to improve safety shows how well-designed the technology effort was, coupled with effective leadership that pushed the effort to the clinical front lines."
About LiveData
LiveData, Inc. is a leading innovator in real-time operational intelligence solutions. The company’s healthcare solutions gather real-time data from across the perioperative suite, coordinate it with team workflow, and present it as meaningful information on easy-to-read, graphic displays. Leading medical institutions, including Massachusetts General Hospital, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital, and Veterans Health Administration facilities have selected LiveData solutions to improve patient safety, team communication, and perioperative efficiency. LiveData is headquartered in Cambridge, Massachusetts. For more information, visit www.livedata.com