McKesson's Physician Order Entry Wins High Marks From First Consulting Group; Unique Approach, Rich Content Accelerates Time to Value

Business Wire, Jan 28, 2002

Business Editors/Medical Writers

SAN FRANCISCO--(BW HealthWire)--Jan. 28, 2002

In conjunction with the 2002 Annual HIMSS Conference & Exhibition, McKesson Corporation (NYSE:MCK) today announced the results of an on-site assessment by First Consulting Group (FCG) of its computerized physician order entry/clinical decision support (CPOE/CDS) solution. The audit was conducted at Vanderbilt University Medical Center to evaluate WizOrders, which McKesson Information Solutions is offering to the market as Horizon Expert Orders(TM), against the same clinical decision support criteria used in the recent Leapfrog Group report. FCG concluded that WizOrders includes tools in each of the nine Leapfrog Group categories and offers advanced tools in eight of the nine categories. McKesson's solution is the only CPOE/CDS that FCG has evaluated on-site at a hospital in a live, operational environment.

"We had every confidence that McKesson's solution would be advanced in virtually every category when examined using the Leapfrog Group clinical decision support criteria, and the study confirmed that our confidence is well placed," said Graham King, president of McKesson Information Solutions. "We also know that we've taken a unique approach to clinical decision support by embedding information to guide practice into the workflow and making it available when and where it's needed most -- at the point of care where physicians are making decisions and initiating treatment."

As a key component of McKesson's Horizon Clinicals(TM) offering, Horizon Expert Orders is the industry's most innovative clinical decision support/computerized physician order entry solution. The solution's unique workflow orientation contains embedded clinical knowledge that combines patient-specific information with evidence-based and local care standards and access to the latest clinical reference content. At the core of Horizon Expert Orders is the Horizon Knowledge Center(TM), a library of more than 900 clinical protocols, diagnostically appropriate order outlines, rules, treatment advisories, and reference information. By allowing organizations to customize this content based on the practices and preferences of its own physicians and clinicians, McKesson provides a powerful means to "jump-start" system acceptance and shorten the time to value for the benefits that come with reducing variability in care processes.

St. Luke's Episcopal Hospital in Houston, Texas, has already begun this process, said chief information officer Kay Carr. "Our Physician Clinical Information Advisory Committee sees Horizon Knowledge Center as a very rich 'starter set' for establishing how we will provide point-of-care guidance for ordering and treatment recommendations," said Carr. "Our physicians and other clinicians will be actively involved in the review of the Horizon Knowledge Center by working with the committee to assess and implement order outlines, treatment advisories and protocols. St. Luke's is a recipient of many quality awards and has a strong infrastructure of service-specific guidelines and care pathways. We'll be able to complement the years of work that our clinical teams have put into developing best practices with the expertise that Vanderbilt brings to clinical informatics as well as patient care."

Through a unique workflow design, Horizon Expert Orders uses the Horizon Knowledge Center to bring relevant clinical intelligence to each step of the natural patient care process, guiding the physician logically and efficiently toward the most informed decisions to ensure patients get the most informed treatment possible. Orders are generated and treatment plans are documented as a byproduct of the decision making process.

"By combining the Horizon Knowledge Center with a very straightforward user interface, we've made it easy for physicians to use clinically relevant information as they practice medicine. I believe this is why we've achieved almost universal system acceptance," said William W. Stead, M.D., Vanderbilt's associate vice chancellor for health affairs. "We found that if you present information in a manner similar to the way physicians and other clinicians actually think and work, it is far more likely that they will use it."

In use at Vanderbilt for the past five years, Horizon Expert Orders has delivered impressive results:

-- More than 10,000 orders are placed daily, 70 percent of them by physicians
and the remaining 30 percent by clinicians

-- More than 500 warnings or advices are triggered daily, many of which result
in an order change

-- More than $5 million in pharmacy expenses is saved annually, not including
the value of adverse drug event prevention

-- More than $1.1 million has been saved in X-ray costs over five years

McKesson Corporation is the leader in helping healthcare organizations worldwide provide quality care in the most cost-effective manner possible. Healthcare organizations use our comprehensive solutions to improve patient safety and reduce the cost and variability of care as well as to better manage their revenue stream and resources. For more information, visit McKesson's website at www.mckesson.com. With revenues of $42 billion for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2001, McKesson ranks No. 35 in the 2001 Fortune 500.