MedStar Health is poised to roll out new clinical technology at all seven of its hospitals.

The largest health system in the Baltimore-Washington area, with 147,000 inpatient admissions and 1.5 million outpatient visits a year, has tapped Kansas City-based technology company Cerner to implement several Cerner Millennium applications throughout the healthcare system.

"With the high volume of patients we treat on a daily basis, information technology plays a critical role in the care delivery process," said Catherine Szenczy, MedStar Health's chief information officer. "We believe the Cerner Millennium solutions will enable us to raise the bar on the care we deliver by improving the workflow of clinicians and supporting MedStar's focus on delivering high quality patient care."

MedStar leadership chose Cerner solutions because they wanted to move from a multi-vendor, best-of-breed approach to the unified Cerner Millennium system, Szenczy said.

MedStar Health will be using Cerner Millennium solutions to automate clinician documentation, pharmacy and laboratory operations, medication administration processes and bedside care activities.

"These solutions will help improve patient safety and clinician workflow at several junctures in the care process, including quick access to patient records, management of medication dispensing, administration processes and automation of laboratory practices," said Cerner President Trace Devanny.