Apply a risk analysis to an EHR environment: It's not just HIPAA and meaningful use
HIM Connection, January 24, 2012
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The death of an infant at an Illinois hospital made national news in June 2011. Genesis Burkett passed away due to a series of errors tied to human use of the hospital's EHR systems. (The infant was born prematurely to parents who had been trying to conceive for years, and had thrived after months in neonatal intensive care until he was killed by a massive sodium chloride overdose. (You can read more about the case in the Chicago Tribune at http://tinyurl.com/8xtdqrp.)
"The interesting thing about this case is that the hospital met all of the meaningful use requirements," says Margret Amatayakul, MBA, RHIA, CHPS, CPHIT, CPEHR, CPHIE, FHIMSS, president of Margret\A Consulting, LLC, in Schaumburg, IL. "Yes, CPOE was in place. Yes, they had a pharmacy information system, had barcode medication administration. But every place along the way something was wrong."
For example, the hospital systems didn't interface to the compounding device. Staff had turned off rules and alerts. Some issues related to humans distrusting the system-thinking the computer was wrong and not doing anything about it.
Because the series of mishaps that occurred in the case of Genesis Burkett was unusual, many hospitals may be unwilling to imagine that the same thing could happen to them. But how can they be sure it won't?
Editor’s note: Read the entire article in the January issue of Medical Records Briefing.
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