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Mediware Reaches Milestone Multi-Site System Implementation Wheaton Franciscan Healthcare is 20th multi-facility hospital system to successfully implement HCLL Transfusion™ blood bank software system LENEXA KS, August 4, 2008 - Mediware Information Systems (NASD: MEDW), a provider of ClosedLoop™ clinical systems for blood and medication management, announced today that Wheaton Franciscan Healthcare (WFH) has successfully implemented HCLL, Mediware’s flagship blood bank management software system. Including WFH, Mediware has now implemented HCLL for 20 multi-facility healthcare systems, covering 67 hospitals. An additional 29 multi-facility contracts, covering 103 organizations, are currently in the process of being implemented.
Mediware’s history of excellent product support and HCLL’s robust functionality were two of the driving factors behind WFH’s selection of HCLL for their five blood banks.
“We have used Mediware products for close to 15 years,” said Betsy Ronk, WFH’s information systems manager of laboratory applications. “When it came to selecting a new blood bank system, having access to quality support from knowledgeable clinicians and technicians was a top priority.”
WFH is a large integrated health care system, providing almost 1000 beds across five acute care hospitals. They also operate an outpatient network of approximately 40 clinics throughout the greater Milwaukee area. To operate at peak efficiency, WFH consolidated services offered by system hospitals, centralized lab and transfusion services, standardized operating procedures, information systems and instruments across all WFH care facilities.
Because WFH’s organization includes both a centralized transfusion service (CTS) and hospital-based blood banks, it needed a system with multi-facility inventory support which enabled the system to share patient data between individual facilities.
“Each of our metro area facilities offers specialized services, such as cardiac, neo-natal, oncology and so forth. It is very common for a patient to be treated by more than one facility,” said Ronk. “Being able to share treatment-specific data through HCLL is critical to ensure safe and efficient patient care.”
An added benefit important to WFH was Mediware’s ability to import its historical patient data into HCLL for rapid reference at each facility.
“We have over 15 years of patient data that our blood bankers and clinicians need access to,” said Ronk. “Using HCLL, they have seamless access to this information.” A further benefit of using a common system and operating procedure across the system is the ability of WFH blood bank staff to easily rotate between facilities without re-training.
“From an efficiency perspective, the fact that each hospital uses the same software in the same way, offers us tremendous flexibility and productivity improvements,” concluded Ronk.
About Wheaton Franciscan Healthcare
In Southeast Wisconsin, WFH is co-sponsored by the Wheaton Franciscan and Felician Sisters and has nearly 12,000 associates, making it the second largest private employer in the area. Hospitals include All Saints in Racine, St. Joseph and St. Francis in Milwaukee, Elmbrook Memorial in Brookfield, The Wisconsin Heart Hospital in Wauwatosa, and a new site in Franklin. The region also includes Wheaton Franciscan Medical Group with nearly 300 physicians in more than 40 locations, a network of outpatient centers, four long-term care facilities, Home Health, and Hospice. For more information, visit www.mywheaton.org.
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