News Release

Mount Carmel is first health system in Ohio to install Bridge Medical patient safety software

MedPoint and InfoPoint will help Mount Carmel to collect and analyze valuable patient and medication-use data

Business Announcement

Bridge Medical, Inc.

Ohio's first healthcare organization to contract for patient safety technology from Bridge Medical, Mount Carmel—a three-hospital health system based in Columbus—will implement Bridge's MedPoint™ and InfoPoint™ software systems later this summer.

"MedPoint will give our clinicians a robust patient safety solution," said Mount Carmel SVP/CIO Cynthia L. Sheets. "It also integrates well with current technologies and strategies."

A barcode-enabled point-of-care (BPOC) software system, MedPoint helps hospitals reduce medication administration and blood transfusion verification errors. InfoPoint, a complementary software system, helps hospitals achieve better clinical and financial medication-use outcomes.

Mount Carmel will integrate MedPoint with existing admissions, billing, pharmacy, laboratory, clinical documentation and physician access systems. This will give nurses and other caregivers pertinent medication and other information at the patient bedside, empowering them to make more accurate and timely decisions. Using a bedside barcode scanner, the nurse will initiate an electronic check for the patient, including allergies, medications prescribed and dosages. The computer will alert the nurse to medications that are more prone to error because the name looks or sounds like another medication.

"Once MedPoint is fully deployed," said Sheets, "we can begin collecting valuable prospective and retrospective patient and medication-use data. InfoPoint allows us to analyze this data and extract important information for use in patient care. Experts have found that 'the best-managed hospitals make extensive use of technology.' Our new partnership with Bridge illustrates this perfectly."

###

About Mount Carmel
With roots dating back to 1886, Mount Carmel offers a broad range of healthcare services to patients in the Central Ohio region. The health system includes three hospitals—Mount Carmel East, Mount Carmel West, and Mount Carmel St. Ann's—as well as numerous outpatient services; a community outreach program for the poor and under-served; a college of nursing; and a Medicare HMO called MediGold. Mount Carmel has approximately 6500 employees and a medical staff of more than 1500 physicians. For more information, visit www.mountcarmelhealth.com.

About Bridge
Founded in 1996, and headquartered in Solana Beach, Calif., Bridge Medical, Inc., has been honored for its patient safety solutions and educational initiatives. For more information, visit www.bridgemedical.com.

CONTACT:
Bridge Medical, Carol Somer, 858-314-5538, 888-578-0100 x5538, 703-593-5786 (cell) or csomer@bridgemedical.com
Mount Carmel, Beth Watkins, 614-234-6775, 614-730-0696 (pager), bwatkins@mchs.com

MedPoint is a trademark of Bridge Medical, Inc. The names of actual companies and products mentioned herein may be the trademarks of their respective owners.


Disclaimer: AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert system.