Omnicell Advances Medication Safety and Nurse Workflows with New Interoperability between Automated Dispensing Cabinets and EHR at Hackensack University Medical Center

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif., April 9, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- Omnicell, Inc., (NASDAQ:OMCL) announced that Hackensack University Medical Center (HackensackUMC) has successfully demonstrated interoperability between their Omnicell automated dispensing cabinet (ADC) system and the hospital's Epic electronic health record (EHR). By eliminating unnecessary redundancies during medication ordering, nurses now have easier and faster access to patient data to help deliver the highest quality of care in the most timely manner.

HackensackUMC's implementation of this integration was championed by various members of hospital leadership, including nursing informatics and pharmacy management. The new solution integrates two separate operations into one application, the EHR.  With a single login nurses can preselect medications to be removed from the cabinet, check availability of medications in real time in the cabinet, and even document waste from the interoperable EHR.

Nurses are responsible for interacting with the automated medication dispensing cabinets, and research has shown that 33% of the time they spend at the cabinets can be eliminated if true interoperability between systems could be achieved.ⁱ Hackensack anticipates the "new-found time" enabled by streamlining the medication order process may support increased time for nurses to interact with patients. Integration also has patient safety implications. Half of nurses surveyed said they have witnessed a medical error because of lack of device coordination.ⁱⁱ

"We are excited to be leading innovation in interoperability and implementing a solution that should establish a new gold standard around the delivery of patient care in a timely manner," said Nilesh Desai, director of pharmacy at HackensackUMC. "Now with any networked device, nurses will be able to easily interface with the complete medication management system within one application at the patient's bedside, exactly where we want them to spend their time. I look forward to highlighting the true clinical care benefits of this interoperability during my presentation at HIMSS 2015 in Chicago."

The interoperability implemented at HackensackUMC will be featured at HIMSS 2015 in the following areas and activities:

• Omnicell Booth #1802
• The Interoperability Showcase Booth #2084-28: Omnicell will demonstrate seamless interoperability with other vendors in the medication dispensing process, including exchange and use of data directly through the Epic Hyperspace application.
• The Intelligent Health Pavilion Booth #6656-29
• Intelligent Health Pavilion Theater: Nilesh Desai will highlight HackensackUMC's new integration in a presentation titled "Workflow Optimization through Interoperability" on Monday, April 13 at 4 p.m. CT.

Dr. Shafiq Rab, vice president and chief information officer of HackensackUMC's Information Technology said; "At HackensackUMC, we care about one thing most of all and that is the patient. Everything we do is to ensure the patient receives the highest quality care by providing clinicians with the right information at the right time in the right format and in the right location to make the right decision. Enabling the interoperability between Omnicell and Epic is essential to our mission."

"It is incumbent upon us as an industry leader to meet the needs of our hospital customers with solutions that deliver on their promise of improving patient care and at the same time work well with other IT systems in their ecosystem," said Jorge Taborga, executive vice president, Engineering at Omnicell. "As we engage the various stakeholders within hospitals, all share the common request, 'Can Omnicell deliver solutions that are interoperable?' We are proud to answer yes!"

The following additional Omnicell interoperability demonstrations can be seen at HIMSS 2015:

• Omnicell Booth #1802: In addition to demonstrating interoperability with the two leading EHR systems, Pandora analytics will be featured, which aggregates data from several Omnicell medication and supply automation systems.
• The Intelligent Health Pavilion Booth #6656-29:
  • Interoperability of the Omnicell Anesthesia Workstations and Codonics Safe Label System aids in improving workflow and patient safety in the operating room by reducing steps that do not add clinical value.  The integration of the two systems, which improves inventory control and charge capture with bar code scanning technology, can be seen in the Operating Room Use Case.
  • The OptiFlex  point-of-use supply management system used to manage pre-sorted general supplies for each patient will also be featured in the OR.
  • The Savvy mobile medication workstation is included in the ICU Use Case, allowing the nurse to queue up medications at the patient bedside.
  • The Omnicell M5000 will be featured in the Outpatient Pharmacy Use Case as the first pharmacy automation system used to pack multi-medication blister cards, which promote medication adherence.

About Hackensack University Medical Center

HackensackUMC, a nonprofit teaching and research hospital located in Bergen County, NJ, is the largest provider of inpatient and outpatient services in the state. Founded in 1888 as the county's first hospital, it is the flagship hospital of Hackensack University Health Network, one of the largest health networks in the state comprised of 1,250 beds, nearly 10,000 employees and 2,700 credentialed physicians. HackensackUMC was listed as the number one hospital in New Jersey in the U.S. News & World Report's Best Hospital rankings for 2014-15. It is one of the top 30 hospitals in the nation by receiving 11 national specialty rankings, including a national ranking for the Joseph M. Sanzari Children's Hospital in Neurology and Neurosurgery in the 2014-15 Best Children's Hospitals. The children's hospital is housed with the Donna A. Sanzari Women's Hospital in the Sarkis and Siran Gabrellian Women's and Children's Pavilion, which was designed with The Deirdre Imus Environmental Health Center, and was included on the Green Guide's list of Top 10 Green Hospitals in the U.S. HackensackUMC is one of Healthgrades America's 50 Best Hospitals™ for nine years in a row, and received the Healthgrades Distinguished Hospital Award for Clinical Excellence™ 13 years in a row. The medical center has also been named a Leapfrog Top Hospital, and received 23 Gold Seals of Approval™ by the Joint Commission – more than any other hospital in the country. It was the first hospital in New Jersey and second in the nation to become a Magnet® recognized hospital for nursing excellence; receiving its fifth consecutive designation in 2014. HackensackUMC is the Hometown Hospital of the New York Giants and the New York Red Bulls and was Official Medical Services Provider to The Barclays PGA Golf Tournament and the NY/NJ Super Bowl XLVIII Host Committee. It remains committed to its community through fundraising and community events.

To learn more, visit: www.HackensackUMC.org.   

About Omnicell

Since 1992, Omnicell (NASDAQ: OMCL) has been creating new efficiencies to improve patient care, anywhere it is delivered. Omnicell is a leading supplier of comprehensive automation and business analytics software for patient-centric medication and supply management across the entire health care continuum—from the acute care hospital setting to post-acute skilled nursing and long-term care facilities to the home.

More than 3,000 customers worldwide have utilized Omnicell Automation and Analytics solutions to increase operational efficiency, reduce errors, deliver actionable intelligence and improve patient safety. Omnicell Medication Adherence solutions, including its MTS Medication Technologies brand, provide innovative medication adherence packaging solutions to help reduce costly hospital readmissions. In addition, these solutions enable approximately 6,000 institutional and retail pharmacies worldwide to maintain high accuracy and quality standards in medication dispensing and administration while optimizing productivity and controlling costs.

For more information about Omnicell, Inc. please visit www.omnicell.com.

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Editor's Notes:

All Omnicell news releases (financial, acquisitions, products, technology etc.) are issued exclusively by PR Newswire and are immediately thereafter posted on the company's external website, omnicell.com.

1. Omnicell, the Omnicell logo design and Pandora are registered trademarks of Omnicell, Inc. Anesthesia Workstation, OptiFlex and Savvy are trademarks of Omnicell, Inc.
2. All other brand or product names may be trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective companies.

ⁱ South Jersey Healthcare.  Vineland, NJ.  Data from cabinet log analysis. (2009)  
ⁱⁱ West Health Institute. (2015). Nurses Say Medical Errors Could Be Reduced If Devices Were Connected, West Health Institute Survey Shows [Press release]. Retrieved from http://www.westhealth.org/news/nurses-say-medical-errors-could-be-reduced-if-devices-were-connected-west-health-institute-0

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SOURCE Omnicell, Inc.

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