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Duke University Health System Selects McKesson for E-Prescribing and Electronic Health Records

Posted on: Wednesday, 18 January 2006, 09:00 CST

McKesson Corporation (NYSE:MCK) and Duke University Health System today announced a strategic initiative to accelerate physician adoption of electronic prescriptions and electronic health records (EHRs) in its clinics and physician practices. The initiative calls for Duke to deploy McKesson's Horizon Ambulatory Care(TM) system across approximately 80 health clinics and physician practices in the communities surrounding Duke. Eventually more than 1,500 physicians will use the system to create an EHR, including primary care providers, internists, pediatricians, orthopedists and a wide range of other medical specialties. Duke will pursue a rapid rollout of e-prescribing, then phase in the full use of ambulatory EHRs.

"Duke's use of clinical decision support and other IT tools is an integral part of our equation for patient safety and clinical quality in the hospital," said Victor J. Dzau, M.D., Duke's chancellor for health affairs. "This new initiative with McKesson expands our efforts into outpatient settings with the goal of establishing a world-class electronic health record that supports continuity of care across both inpatient and outpatient settings. Whether a patient goes to the physician office, an outpatient clinic or the hospital, information such as allergies, known health problems and existing medical orders should be easily accessible to the clinicians providing treatment."

As part of its ambulatory initiative, Duke will collaborate with McKesson to develop clinical, specialty-based content for use in documentation of patient care and patient treatment. The clinical system will be integrated with the IDX practice management system used in its physician offices. Duke and McKesson will focus on integrated care delivery and innovative workflow tools to facilitate the best patient experience. This work is designed to broadly benefit McKesson customers. For example, Duke will develop and provide easy-to-use, quick-entry templates for charting patient care, which can then be used to promote rapid adoption in other communities. Duke and McKesson will also collaborate on documented processes for knowledge transfer and best-practice implementation.

The ambulatory initiative builds on Duke's highly successful rollout of McKesson's Horizon Expert Orders(TM) clinical decision support/computerized physician order entry (CDS/CPOE) system. Duke rolled out the system in less than 12 months, achieving widespread adoption by physicians and other medical staff. Today more than 1,500 clinicians, including more than 600 physicians, use the system to place more than 18,000 orders daily.

Duke will begin its deployment with the Horizon Expert Prescribing(TM) system, which electronically connects physicians, patients, pharmacy benefit managers and retail pharmacies to improve patient safety, drive community-wide efficiencies and reduce costs. The system currently processes more than 1 million electronic prescriptions per year, creating dramatic improvements in safety and efficiency.

"Electronic prescriptions are a logical starting place for our clinics and practices, from both a safety and clinical efficiency perspective," said Paul R. Newman, vice president for Duke's Ambulatory Care Division. "In addition to being relatively quick to install, physicians using e-prescribing at other McKesson sites give it high marks for checking the payor's formulary as well as allergies, problems and other medications that the patient may be taking."

Once electronic prescriptions are in place for each location, additional EHR functions from Horizon Ambulatory Care will be added, including the ability to place orders, view results online and document patient care electronically. "We want to equip physicians with an IT system that's easy to adopt, streamlines daily workflow and is tightly integrated with the hospital system to provide a comprehensive view of the patient," said Asif Ahmad, vice president and chief information officer for Duke University Health System and Duke University Medical Center.

"Duke's rapid rollout of clinical decision support and ability to achieve broad physician adoption makes it the ideal partner for this project," said Pamela Pure, president of McKesson Provider Technologies. "We look forward to drawing on Duke's expertise and success with physicians as we collaborate to deploy a comprehensive EHR for all Duke patients that spans the ambulatory and inpatient environments to support continuity of care. The best practices, clinical knowledge and other tools developed through this effort will be valuable in jump-starting similar initiatives by other providers across the country."

About Duke University Hospital

A tertiary and quaternary-care hospital, Duke University Hospital is consistently rated one of the top hospitals in the United States. It houses comprehensive diagnostic and therapeutic facilities including a regional emergency/trauma center; a major surgery suite with dedicated open-heart operating rooms; an endosurgery center; and an extensive diagnostic radiology area. The facility also functions as a research hospital where medical advances are achieved and applied, and as a teaching hospital for students of medicine, nursing, and the allied health sciences.

About McKesson

McKesson Corporation, currently ranked 15th on the FORTUNE 500, is a healthcare services and information technology company dedicated to helping its customers deliver high-quality healthcare by reducing costs, streamlining processes, and improving the quality and safety of patient care. Over the course of its 173-year history, McKesson has grown by providing pharmaceutical and medical-surgical supply management across the spectrum of care; healthcare information technology for hospitals, physicians, homecare and payors; hospital and retail pharmacy automation; and services for manufacturers and payors designed to improve outcomes for patients. For more information, visit us at http://mpt.mckesson.com or www.mckesson.com.

Source: Business Wire

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