Veterans Health Administration Selects Care Fusion to Further Industry Leading Patient Safety Initiatives11 February 2006
Care Fusion(R), announced today that the Veterans Health Administration (VA) has selected Care Fusion's suite of enterprise positive patient identification solutions to be implemented in VA inpatient and outpatient facilities system-wide. VA's health care system includes 171 medical centers and 500 outpatient clinics, with at least one facility in each state, Puerto Rico and the District of Columbia. VA health care facilities provide a broad spectrum of medical, surgical and rehabilitative care. In 2004, VA inpatient facilities treated 587,000 patients, and outpatient clinics registered nearly 54 million visits.
The goals of the VA project, called Barcode Expansion (BCE), are to increase positive patient identification, thereby decreasing patient misidentification and vulnerabilities in labeling of blood and laboratory specimens and to decrease the duplication of work. The VA is building on the success of the internally developed Bar Code Medication Administration (BCMA) software, an innovative, automated system in use since 1999 that uses wireless laptop computers and attached barcode scanners to dramatically reduce medication administration errors.
"Experience has proven to the VA that barcode technology is very reliable. Our solutions expand the use of this technology and adds mobility, giving nurses, laboratory technicians and other medical professionals immediate identity verification," said Ken Tighe, CEO of Care Fusion. "The Care Fusion solution gives them a uniform tool throughout all their medical facilities -- minimizing training and support, and maximizing patient care."
Each of Care Fusion's applications selected by the VA has been proven in live use throughout commercial hospitals. The Care Fusion software applications selected by the VA include: wCareCollect(TM) to verify and label lab specimens; wBloodCare(TM) to verify blood products prior to transfusion; wCareAssist(TM) to document vital signs and patient care information; wCareView(TM) for a consolidated view of patient data; and wCareMed(TM) to support medication administration, allergy warnings, safety alerts and complex IVs. wCareMed augments BCMA by providing identical functionality on highly mobile handheld devices. The solutions will be interfaced to and used in conjunction with existing applications in the VA such as VistA, CPRS, BCMA, and Health-eVet.
The Care Fusion solutions function as part of an integrated suite, providing continuity among the applications and provide the user with a consistent 'look and feel' through the use of similar menu systems and operations among the different applications. All applications are able to run on a single integrated platform such as handheld devices, laptop PCs, and thin clients.
A multi-year contract was awarded to Patriot Technologies, a Service Disabled Veteran Owned Small Business, who had teamed with Care Fusion and EDS to pursue the VA opportunity. The VA also selected sealed and ruggedized handheld mobile computers with integrated barcode scanners from Symbol Technologies and portable barcode label printers from Zebra Technologies as part of the overall program. The contract calls for the implementation, training, and on-going support for the five Care Fusion software applications. All applications will be implemented in inpatient areas, including acute care wards, nursing homes, ICUs, operating rooms, and procedure rooms. wCareCollect, wBloodCare, and wCareAssist will be implemented in outpatient areas as well, as most specimens collected by the VA are in facility outpatient areas and outpatient clinics, and most blood products are now given in outpatient settings.
"The selection of Care Fusion by the VA will help ensure quality control, decrease the number of adverse events, and enhance patient care," said Tighe. "We are proud to partner with the VA as they continue to lead the health care industry in patient safety initiatives."
About Care Fusion
Care Fusion, Inc. (http://www.carefusion.com) develops and delivers a modular array of interoperable, enterprise level applications that unlock the power of barcode scanning to positively identify patients and ensure the accuracy of medication administration, specimen collection and labeling, blood transfusions, patient charting and viewing, and charge capture, all accessible from one highly portable handheld or laptop device. Care Fusion suite of barcode enabled patient safety products that include: wCareMed(TM), wCareCollect(TM), wBloodCare(TM), wCareAssist(TM), wCareView(TM), and wCareCapture(TM).
The Power of One: One Vendor. One Device. Many Powerful Solutions.
About Patriot Technologies
Patriot Technologies (http://www.patriottechnologies.net) is a Service Disabled Veteran Owned Small Business (SDVOSB). While providing superior information technology services and consistently delivering results, Patriot Technologies assists Federal agencies and large prime contractors to meet their small business and socioeconomic contracting goals. Since its inception, Patriot Technologies has played a vital role in offering innovative technology management solutions to client organizations to help them keep pace with the rapid evolutions in technology while maximizing their investments.
Kenneth Tighe, Chief Executive Officer
ken.tighe@carefusion.com
703-714-0730
Source: prnewswire
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