ADVISORY/Experts Available to Discuss Patient Safety and Barcoding.

Business Editors

ADVISORY...

--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Feb. 3, 2003

TOPIC: Although the Food and Drug Administration has yet to make bar codes on drug labels mandatory, more than a dozen drug companies have chosen to do so, according to an article by iHealthBeat. Many patient-safety experts believe bar coding can significantly decrease the number of medication errors. The Department of Veterans Affairs' bar coding system has helped reduce medication errors by 74% over the past four years, the article says. A study conducted in 2002 by the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS) found 77% of health care organizations use bar coding, of which only 15% claimed to use it for medication administration. Others use it for laboratory purposes and supply-chain management. EXPERTS: ExpertSource can offer several highly qualified experts to comment on this story: -0-


John B. Grotting, MHA--an expert on the use of barcoding in healthcare
to prevent medication, blood transfusion and other medical errors, as
well as other patient safety topics--is president and CEO of Bridge
Medical, an AmerisourceBergen company. Grotting's 28 years of
healthcare leadership experience includes executive experience at the
$2.6-billion Allina Hospitals & Clinics in Minneapolis, Minn. He and
Bridge are known throughout the industry for such award-winning
efforts as Bridge's MedPoint patient safety system and the "Beyond
Blame" documentary which first drew attention to the problem of
medication errors. One of the founders of the National Alliance for
Health Information Technology, Grotting has been a national media
spokesperson for NAHIT, whose first initiative is to barcode all
medications to protect patients. He will be speaking to hospital CEOs
about Bridge Medical in March at the Third Annual INNOVATION
conference sponsored by Modern Healthcare.
PR: Carol B. Somer,
[e-mail],
858-314-5538 or
cell: 858-204-7424

Mary Michael Brown, RN, MS is a senior clinical consultant for Bridge
Medical. Brown uses her 20-plus years of clinical and consulting
experience to help hospitals use root-cause analyses and other methods
to analyze medication error data, and improve quality and reduce cost.
Brown has authored numerous peer-reviewed journal articles and
textbook chapters on both clinical and leadership topics. A former
adjunct faculty member at some of the nation's leading nursing
schools, e.g., Boston, Catholic, Georgetown, George Mason and San
Diego State (graduate program) Universities. She has been presenting
studies of patient safety and quality improvement at professional
conferences and seminars around the country for decades. A member of
the American Organization of Nurse Executives, the American
Association of Critical Care Nurses (AACN) and Sigma Theta Tau, Brown
received AACN's Excellence in Management Award in 1990 for her work as
nursing coordinator at Georgetown University Hospital, ranked among
the nation's top hospitals by U.S. News and World Report. A registered
critical care nurse (CCRN) for 19 years, and a registered nurse (RN)
for the past 26, Brown also worked as a staff nurse and a clinical
nurse specialist at Boston University Medical Center in Boston. In
addition to developing the hospital's progressive care unit, she
provided direct care to critically ill adult cardiac surgical
patients, and education and consultation to nursing staff on cardiac
surgical telemetry, surgical adult and orthopedic units.
PR: Carol B. Somer,
[e-mail],
858-314-5538 or
cell: 858-204-7424

Russell "Rusty" Lewis is SVP/COO of Bridge Medical, and heads the R&D
arm of the company, which is dedicated to the development of
barcode-enabled, point-of-care (BPOC) patient safety software systems
for use in hospitals, as well as systems that mine data gathered to
provide information that can help providers, insurers, payors,
pharmaceutical firms and governmental agencies, maximize clinical and
financial outcomes of medication use. On Feb. 11, Healthcare
Information and Management Systems Society names his "Impact of
Information Technology on Patient Safety" HIMSS Book of the Year. He
is also the author of a new HIMSS book on Barcoding and BPOC that will
be published shortly. Prior to joining Bridge, Lewis served as SVP and
chief technology officer of HBOC and McKesson's Information Technology
Business. The Microsoft Healthcare Users Group (MS-HUG) board member
has been involved for more than 15 years in research and product
development for America's leading technology companies, and is the
holder of more than 20 U.S. and international patents.
PR: Carol B. Somer, [e-mail],
858-314-5538 or
cell 858-204-7424

    The 2003 Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society
(HIMSS) conference, scheduled for Feb. 9-13 at the San Diego
Convention Center, will address issues involving the use of
barcode-enabled point-of-care (BPOC) patient safety software. For more
information, please contact Bridge Medical, Carol Somer, 858-314-5538,
888-578-0100, 858-204-7424 (cell) or [e-mail]. HIMSS,
Joyce Lofstrom, 312-915-9237 or [e-mail]; Fred Bazzoli,
312-915-9253 or [e-mail]

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