Anesthesia 2014
Putting Performance Questions to Rest

WORTH KNOWING

SIS AND GE HEALTHCARE OFFER STRONG USABILITY, EPIC LAGS BEHIND

Providers praised both SIS and GE Healthcare for usability. Providers specifically lauded their good visual displays, customizability, information accessibility, and intuitive workflows. Epic customers highlighted great communication and involvement from Epic’s team but also reported difficulty navigating and documenting in the system. Many were confident Epic would improve the product.

MANY WANT REPORTING--ONLY SIS DELIVERS

SIS Analytics, the only highly regarded anesthesia reporting tool, is used to track utilization, throughput, and efficiency and drill down into financial metrics. Epic customers are using vendor tools to improve clinical outcomes and practices, but reports require extensive IT effort. Other solutions primarily analyze utilization/throughput and are inadequate, have little adoption, or require extensive effort. Limited perspectives on Plexus IS’ tools were positive.

INTEGRATION DRIVES DECISIONS BUT IS NOT PERFECT

Tight OR integration win Cerner, Epic, and SIS deals. However, Cerner and Epic customers expressed the need for more-direct access to patient information, and SIS customers want better EMR interfaces. Other vendors, excepting Plexus IS, are more vulnerable to replacement, an indication of weaker OR/EMR integration. This includes Optum and GE Healthcare, who offer partially integrated OR solutions.

GROWING AMBULATORY MARKET--PLEXUS INFORMATION SYSTEMS STANDS OUT

Anesthesia Touch stands out among newer ambulatory solutions. It is sold primarily to anesthesia groups, who reported having a responsive vendor and a highly functional product. SIS (Amkai) is sold primarily to ambulatory surgery centers, and customers reported challenges with system speed and reliability. KLAS also validated 3–5 ambulatory facilities using AneScan, iProcedures, and Shareable Ink. Many providers have adapted their inpatient solutions to fit an ambulatory environment, with good results.