Boston Children’s Hospital has been able to cut roughly 80 percent of its previous costs since implementing Cerner’s Immunization Forecaster in 2018.
Providers know that childhood vaccinations are a key component of preventive care, but changing recommendations for certain immunization schedules can pose a challenge. Implementing a clinical decision support (CDS) tool into the EHR has helped some organizations address the issue.
Since Boston Children’s Hospital implemented Cerner’s Immunization Forecaster in August 2018, the hospital has saved money and time with the tool that was embedded into the EHR, while also keeping their patients current on vaccinations that are recommended by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
“There is now less guesswork in determining if and when immunizations are due,” said Brenda Dodson, PharmD, clinical integration architect. “It’s much easier to figure out the next best time for an immunization visit because you get a good view of future appropriate dates.”
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The tool, which can be accessed through the hospital’s EHR, references CDC clinical decision support of immunizations (CDSi) to help pediatricians know when patients need the next round of appropriate vaccines.
The tool also helps physicians assess and decide which vaccines are due at what time and it also recommends a catch-up schedule if the patient is behind schedule on vaccinations.
“Clinicians can easily review data, and the forecasting is simply amazing,” continued Dodson. “The new forecaster has all of this logic incorporated and has been really eye-opening.”
Prior to the implementation, physicians had trouble accurately determining when the patient could receive immunizations through Vaccines for Children (VFC), a program that the hospital previously utilized. In return, the hospital would have to soak up the extra costs due to the constant errors.
The forecaster tool has saved Boston Children’s Hospital roughly 80 percent off its previous costs for the four highest volume inpatient vaccines, while also working to address patient safety.
“We’re leveraging barcodes from the manufacturer at the point of administration,” said Dodson. “By scanning the barcode, we can verify medication rights while also capturing automated entry of lot number, expiration date, manufacturer and funding source. Being able to do this has been a big satisfier from a safety perspective.”
Along with the EHR tool, the Immunization Inventory Worklist improves vaccine supply management and saves time for pharmacists and technicians. Prior to the list, the hospital estimated an average of 43.5 hours of overtime monthly to complete the inventory intake. Boston Children’s Hospital has now eliminated that overtime.
“Inventory intake used to take an inordinate amount of time from both technician and pharmacist staff,” explained Dodson. “Now that the burden has been reduced, those resources can be redeployed to other necessary functions within the hospital.”
The Immunization Forecaster also allows the medical staff to use the manufacturer’s barcode label, rather than having to create an auxiliary label on every vaccine vial for documentation. This saves time for pharmacists.
“This has been a huge success,” concluded Dodson. “We’re quite pleased with how the solution helped improve our vaccine administration in a multitude of ways.”
Source: EHR Intelligence