Memorial Hermann Health System reduced its fall rate to one of the lowest in the nation in 2016 -- using clinical decision support (CDS) and for that was honored with a HIMSS Davies Award of Excellence

The Davies recognizes outstanding achievement of organizations that have utilized health information technology to substantially improve patient outcomes and value.

To achieve such success, a team at Memorial Hermann used the AGS Beers Criteria, a resource that helps physicians find potential medication-related dangers that often lead to geriatric patient falls. Memorial Hermann started using CDS oversight with the support of a Beers Criteria workgroup led by physicians, pharmacists, medical informatics professionals and an acute care medical informatics committee, according to HIMSS.

Memorial Hermann used CDS in the form of order sentences and alerts to limit the ordering of medications for the elderly patient population. The EHR’s ability to add filters for age and conditions, in addition to dose range checking alerts, improved the automation and reliability of the CDS alerts.

WHY IT MATTERS

“Every second of every day in the U.S., an older adult falls, making falls the number one cause of injuries and deaths from injury among older Americans,” according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). In 2014, CDC reported some 29 million falls by older Americans, resulting in seven million injuries at an estimated $31 billion in Medicare costs.

Falls are a growing public health issue, particularly with the surging Baby Boomer population, says the National Council on Aging (NCOA).

“Older adult falls are increasing and, sadly, often herald the end of independence,” said former CDC Director Tom Frieden. “Healthcare providers can make fall prevention a routine part of care in their practice, and older adults can take steps to protect themselves.”

THE LARGER TREND

More and more providers are using advanced predictive analytics to reduce falls. The 420-bed El Camino Hospital in California dramatically lowered its hospital fall rates, as we reported last April. “It seemed like a lot of the efforts we tried were not getting us to where we wanted to be,” said chief nursing officer Cheryl Reinking, who helped spearhead the effort to transform the organization’s fall prevention program. The effort involved going beyond traditional “predictive analytics” into what Reinking called action-focused insights that allow providers to immediately respond and impact patient safety.

We also reported about a blueprint for fall prevention that can also be applied to heart attacks and other patient conditions, using telehealth and predictive analytics applied to population health data.

Physician and clinical informatics fellow Andrew Muth, MD, has developed a fall prevention program that uses predictive analytics to identify veterans who are at risk of falling. Some factors that can lead to a higher risk of falling include taking strong medication for pain, narcotics like benzodiazepine or antipsychotics, which can cause you to be a little shakier and more likely to fall.

ON THE RECORD

HIMSS senior director of quality and value-based care Jonathan French: “Memorial Hermann Health System significantly decreased the overall rate of unnecessary, high-risk medication orders, and are now leading the nation with the least amount of patient falls.”

Diana Manos is a Washington, D.C.-area freelance writer specializing in healthcare, wellness and technology. 
Twitter: @Diana_Manos
Email the writer: dnewsprovider@gmail.com 

Healthcare IT News is a HIMSS Media publication.