As any veteran healthcare provider or administrator knows, the industry has come a long way, not just in terms of the treatments and procedures themselves, but also in healthcare administration.
Probably the most revolutionary development in hospital administration from a quality of care perspective was the advent of the electronic health record (EHR) or electronic medical record (EMR). First seen in the 1960’s, EHR use gradually spread through the industry over the next few decades until a pivotal moment: the passage of the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act (HITECH) in 2009 that rewarded providers for using EMR systems.
Since then, EMR adoption has become widespread and pervasive throughout the industry. And Cerner, a leading health information provider, has been at the forefront as the world’s leading source of EMR software that can be found in over 20,000 facilities around the world.
EMR software has made a tremendous impact on improving quality of care for patients and improving outcomes for administrators. Now, this movement is taking its next step with the advent of Open Sky Health and its partnership with one of the largest academic medical centers in the United States.
Open Health Sky: Unleashing the Power of the EMR
Open Sky Health is the provider of an innovative platform known as the Sky360 Suite, which is a collection of modules that aim to significantly improve the Cerner EMR user’s experience in several key areas.
Cerner’s Millennium platform is an excellent foundation; but there’s still room for improvement, which is why Open Sky Health was formed: to improve medical outcomes, reduce costs and make the daily work of physicians and staff easier and more efficient. Cerner Millennium is a great system—we have simply made it better by making information easier and faster to access, and adding workflows for efficiency and collaborative use of the system.
The quest for solutions that work with and improve Cerner’s Millennium EMR came from physicians and caregivers who appreciated the system but wanted additional capabilities. The organization where these solutions were designed and implemented was actually a 20-year premier Cerner client: UAB Medicine.
UAB Medicine is the largest academic medical center in Alabama and one of the largest in the country. It has a long and proud history of innovation in the medical field, and it applied that tradition toward clinical and business process improvement (CPI) efforts with Cerner. UAB Medicine came up with ways to better organize, display and communicate vital patient and facility information. UAB improved clinical and business processes so internal and external key users could make better use of it.
The effort resulted in software that, with a license from the UAB Bill L. Harbert Institute of Innovation and Entrepreneurship, became known as the Sky360 Suite—and Open Sky Health would be the company to bring it to the market.
Taking the EMR to the Next Level
Today, Open Sky Health is spreading the word: as incredible as Cerner EMR is, it can be even better, and the Sky360 Suite is the way to make that happen. Now, any facility—especially facilities that can’t afford to build software themselves—can gain access to software that dramatically amplifies what Cerner Millennium offers and brings benefits like lower costs, less time, more revenue, higher patient and physician satisfaction and higher standards of care.
Contact Open Sky Health to learn more about adopting the Sky360 Suite and incorporating it into your processes so you can get full use from your EMR system.
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