Milford Regional Medical Center

Values low maintenance: “We could just set it up and forget about it”

The Milford (MA) Regional Medical Center is a 121-bed, nonprofit, acute-care facility serving a region of 20-plus towns. It is part of a comprehensive healthcare system that also comprises Tri-County Medical Associates, Inc., an affiliated physician practice group; and the Milford Regional Healthcare Foundation.

As a full-service, community and regional teaching hospital with almost 200 physicians on its active medical staff and 100 additional consulting physicians, Milford Regional needed to ensure that patient care and service was not interrupted in the event that MEDITECH, its healthcare information system (HCIS), experienced downtime. The hospital initially pursued implementing a downtime system because of concerns with maintaining continuous access to electronic medication administration records (EMARs). With the ability to create and review EMARs when the MEDITECH system is down, they could still administer medications to patients.

Solution for Multiple Downtime Situations

“We had heard from MEDITECH users that NetSafe was the product to use,” said Cheryl Toomey, Clinical Informatics Specialist at the Milford Regional Medical Center. “Once we saw the demo, we realized that NetSafe was beneficial for more than medication administration and had other downtime uses as well.”

In addition to medication records downtime, Milford Regional uses NetSafe for MPI download administration during both planned and unplanned downtime and for laboratory administration downtime. Even though the hospital just implemented NetSafe in 2008, it has had to use the software in several downtime situations already.

“It’s good to know we have a system in place that we can use to implement new solutions for unique situations,” said Nicole Heim, Manager of Applications, Information Systems at Milford Regional Medical Center. “The fact that NetSafe is automated is significant. There’s not a lot to monitor and there’s very little maintenance. MPI downloads and EMARs used during downtime work smoothly.”

“NetSafe works like a charm and will print medication records during downtime without worry,” added Toomey. “As the primary nurse informatics specialist, it helps me sleep at night knowing that patients won’t miss their meds.”

Facilitates Data and Report Distribution

At the time Milford Regional purchased NetSafe, it also acquired NetDelivery, Interbit Data’s information distribution solution. With NetDelivery, the hospital faxes data from MEDITECH to physician and laboratory EMRs, and it sends reports via email to affiliated organizations and
partners with whom it shares patient care. NetDelivery is also used for getting patient demographic information to ambulance companies. Information is always transferred securely using encryption.

“NetDelivery is very easy to use — we can set it up and forget about it,” said Heim.

Positive Implementation Experience

When implementing NetSafe and NetDelivery, Milford Regional’s experience was nothing but positive.

“It was very quick and easy and the support from Interbit Data was very good,” said Heim. “Even though we required a good deal of back and forth when implementing NetSafe, the support was strong. Since we began using the products, we have found that neither requires a lot of support or maintenance.”

Because of the high level of satisfaction with NetSafe and NetDelivery, Milford Regional is considering Interbit Data’s other solutions, although Heim adds they have not fully maximized the current products.

“Even though we get such great use out of the products, we know that NetSafe and NetDelivery can do even more than what we are using them for,” said Heim. “They are truly products that can be used for a multitude of business needs. The benefits would multiply if we took full advantage of them.”