June 7 , 2011

The Sullivan Group Helps Improve Patient Safety and Reduce Medical Errors in the Emergency Department

The Sullivan Group’s Risk Mitigation Module for the Picis ED PulseCheck System helps practitioners to Rapidly Diagnose High-risk Medical Conditions, Reduce Medical Errors and Create Legally Defensible Medical Records

Oakbrook Terrace, Il. – June 7, 2011 –The Sullivan Group,a leading provider of clinician risk mitigation solutions that help reduce medical errors and malpractice claims, has released Version 2.0 of their Risk Mitigation Module for the Picis ED PulseCheckTM electronic medical record (EMR). The Sullivan Group’s solutions are based on primary research into thousands of malpractice claims and medical errors, and over 200,000 high-risk ED encounters, all evaluated by The Sullivan Group’s collaborative of nationally recognized experts.

Key features of The Sullivan Group’s Risk Mitigation Module 2.0 include:

• Effective visual cues for key clinical content, instead of pop-ups or hard stops, helping to minimize practitioner interruptions while helping to maximize patient safety and risk mitigation. This feature supports the clinical thought process and results in an unprecedented level of compliance with documentation and a defensible medical record.
• Vital sign indicators, clinical risk notifications key information and key anatomic, pathology and procedural graphics provide clinical decision support to the practitioner in near real time during the patient encounter. 
• The Interactive Differential Diagnosis aids caregivers by providing immediate access to a list of potential diagnoses that should be considered for a particular patient presentation. Inside the differential diagnosis practitioners have access to Quick Consults for over 100 emergency medicine high-risk diagnoses providing a virtual textbook of immediately relevant information.

These features facilitate rapid diagnosis of high-risk medical conditions and aid practitioners in creating legally defensible medical records. The end result of implementation is a high level of documentation compliance, helping improve clinical practice, helping clinicians increase patient safety, and reducing medical errors and corresponding malpractice litigation. While patients are getting better care, hospitals are getting a tangible return on their investment, as they are a step closer to achieving Meaningful Use, with Stages 2 and 3 expected to focus on clinical quality improvement and decision support.
                                               
“The Sullivan Group’s Risk Mitigation Module provides Picis ED PulseCheck users with a powerful, evidence-based, clinical decision support tool that helps empower them to make the best decisions possible for their patients,” explains Daniel Sullivan, MD, JD, FACEP, President and CEO of The Sullivan Group. “The Sullivan Group has leveraged proprietary research into thousands of malpractice claims to create this valuable EMR enhancement,” he adds.

“The risk mitigation module has helped make a dramatic difference in patient care in our emergency department. We've made a significant number of high-risk diagnoses as a result of the clinical decision support it delivers. We've also experienced several cases involving adverse patient outcomes where the level of documentation resulted in an early dismissal of litigation,” said Dr. Saif Nazir, Chairman of the Emergency Department at Ingalls Hospital. “The new features in the Risk Mitigation Module 2.0 take clinical decision support to an even higher level. I wouldn't want to practice medicine without it," continued Dr. Nazir.

About The Sullivan Group
The Sullivan Group provides services and software solutions to help reduce medical errors and malpractice claims across the spectrum of high-risk clinical care. The Sullivan Group’s clients – hospitals, physician groups, and risk retention groups (RRGs) – have reduced malpractice claims and financial losses due to medical errors by as much as 50%. These results are achieved by leveraging an evidence-based approach to integrate extensive clinical knowledge with technology focused on the point of care. Headquartered in Oakbrook Terrace, Illinois, The Sullivan Group serves more than 500 hospitals, healthcare organizations and insurance companies nationwide. For more information, please visit www.thesullivangroup.com.

About ED PulseCheck
Picis ED PulseCheck is the only high-performance EDIS/ED EMR that delivers a complete set of management and operational tools to optimize ED performance and interoperability with a hospital’s HIS system. In addition, ED PulseCheck offers charge capture documentation for full, optimal reimbursement combined with exceptional ease of use. Visit http://www.picis.com.