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Data Mining Software Can Play Key Role in Antimicrobial Stewardship, Notes New Report at Infectious Disease Association of California Symposium
May 3, 2010Los Angeles, CA – Software programs that track laboratory and pharmacy records can be very helpful in facilitating antimicrobial stewardship programs (ASPs), according to a report made at the Infectious Disease Association of California’s Spring Symposium, held May 2 in Garden Grove.
In the report, “Antibiotic Use Optimization in California,” Kavita Trivedi, M.D., a medical epidemiologist with the California Department of Public Health (CDPH), discussed efforts to reduce healthcare associated infections (HAIs) in the state and gave examples of effective programs.
In her presentation, Dr. Trivedi said that under a state law passed in 2006, SB 739, all California hospitals are now expected to have an ASP in place to reduce HAIs and improve patient safety.
Dr. Trivedi said that in the CDHP’s initial review of existing hospital ASP efforts, several keys to success have emerged. For example, administrative buy-in and a facility wide education effort is necessary for any ASP to succeed.
Software programs that interface with pharmacy, lab reporting and electronic medical records can be very helpful, she noted. These software programs can either be proprietary or self-developed.
Dr. Trivedi pointed to a study which found that an ASP, started in 2006 at the 280-bed Kaiser Vallejo Hospital, has been very effective in both reducing HAIs in the patient population and improving costs. According to an independent, unpublished report, the hospital’s ASP saved $150K-$300K per year in reduced antimicrobial drug costs.
The Kaiser program was a team effort involving pharmacists, physicians and infection preventionists. Initially, infectious disease pharmacists reviewed line listings of patients on antibiotics. In 2008, the team implemented the Medici clinical pharmacy system, developed by Asolva, Inc, to scale the success of one hospital to more than 20 hospitals. The automated surveillance reports improved the efficiency of the review process, and the documentation module enabled capturing interventions for outcomes reporting.
“The study shows the importance of integrating pharmacy and lab data in implementing an effective ASP. Medici can integrate with practically any electronic health system even if the pharmacy and lab systems are from different vendors. Medici is web-based, which has the benefit of reduced deployment time” said Chun Wong, chief executive officer of Asolva.
Medici, now in use in both community hospitals and multi-site facilities, includes an advanced data mining capability that enables pharmacists to track thousands of individual patients and prescriptions. This eliminates the need for hunting through paper or electronic records to identify and report on changes in patient status, antibiotic utilization and drug administration. The system interfaces with all major EMR and clinical laboratory systems and can provide a wide variety of reports to help meet Joint Commission and Medicare reporting requirements.
Medici’s reports smooth departmental workflow, ease shift-change reporting and help prevent patients from “falling through the cracks.” Equipped with a variety of customizable templates, Medici is cost effective for smaller hospitals and can be scaled up to cover multi-site hospitals and millions of patient records.
About Asolva
Based in Los Angeles, Asolva is a leading developer of data analytics software for healthcare and business organizations. Asolva’s products enable organizations to transform large amounts of data across various applications into meaningful information for strategic decisions, regulatory reports and workflow management. Medici, Asolva’s flagship product, currently serves multiple hospitals and pharmacies and searches through millions of patient records annually to provide critical, real-time reporting. For more information, visit www.asolva.com or contact info@asolva.com.
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| Clemente Diaz Asolva, Inc. cdiaz@asolva.com 877-543-1088 x814 |
James Harris Westside Public Relations jharris@westsidepr.com 310-398-5565 |