The Western Maryland Health System plans to implement Web-based infection control and pharmacy modules at its two campuses to prevent healthcare-associated infections, optimize antibiotic use and reduce hospital costs.
The hospital intends to use the SafetySurveillor tool offered by the Premier healthcare alliance. Owned by not-for-profit hospitals, Premier operates a major healthcare purchasing network and repository of hospital clinical and financial information.
"We use several Premier Informatics tools already," said Tom Dowdel, chief operating officer at WMHS. "We are excited to (implement) SafetySurveillor. It will be a key part of our efforts to make infection prevention a top priority in our facilities."
Dowdel said the health system is also purchasing access to the Premier Performance Improvement Portal.
The SafetySurveillor system helps hospitals meet state-mandated public reporting of certain HAIs, including screening for methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, or MRSA, and Clostridium difficile.
Premier is one of the HAI surveillance system software vendors participating in a federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention project to develop a standards-based solution for transmission of HAI data from hospitals using existing commercial software systems to the agency's National Healthcare Safety network.
WMHS has been an owner of the Premier Purchasing Partners group purchasing network and its predecessors since the 1980s. It is also a member of the Colonial Regional Alliance, a group of eight not-for-profit hospitals in central and western Maryland, northern Virginia and the District of Columbia dedicated to reducing operating expenses and other shared service initiatives.
The Western Maryland Health System was formed in 1996 by the affiliation of Memorial Hospital of Cumberland and Sacred Heart Hospital. A new regional medical center will open in fall 2009, close to the Allegany College of Maryland and the Allegany County Health Department. The health system serves patients in the Cumberland metro area in western Maryland and the Potomac highlands of West Virginia.