Issue link: https://beckershealthcare.uberflip.com/i/1372822
65 CIO / HEALTH IT Microsoft CEO, family pledge $15M to Seattle Children's By Hannah Mitchell M icrosoft CEO Satya Nadella and his wife, Anu, have com- mitted $15 million to Seattle Children's Hospital to help provide equitable access to care for the community, ac- cording to a May 5 news release. The donation will help the hospital to improve care and advance research for children with neurological conditions in four areas: • Supporting breakthroughs in precision medicine in neurosciences. • Providing more access and earlier interventions in youth mental healthcare. • Developing cell and gene therapies to lessen the impact — or even cure childhood diseases and potentially cancer. • Delivering high-quality, equitable primary care at their clinics. The family has a personal connection to the children's hospital. Sa- tya and Anu's son Zain was born with cerebral palsy and was rushed to Seattle Children's neonatal intensive care unit when he was born. "As parents, our lives have been shaped by the needs of our chil- dren, and it is our hope that in honoring Zain's journey, we can im- prove and innovate care for future generations in every communi- ty," Ms. Nadella said. In honor of Zain, Seattle Children's is launching the Zain Nadel- la endowed chair in pediatric neurosciences as part of Seattle Children's Center for Integrative Brain Research. Ms. Nadella is chair of Seattle Children's Foundation Board of Trustees and is co-chair of the neuroscience campaign initiative committee. n The physician specialties that spend the most, least time in the EHR: 3 study insights By Jackie Drees W hile there is substantial variation in time spent on the EHR based on physician spe- cialty, physicians practicing gastroenter- ology and internal medicine are most active in the electronic systems, according to an April 5 study pub- lished in the Journal of American Medical Association. A team of researchers led by New Haven, Conn.- based Yale Medicine measured core efficiencies of EHR technologies in seven areas: total EHR time spent during an eight-hour shift, work done outside of standard work hours, documenting patient health, documenting prescriptions, responding to emails, coordinating medical orders and undivided attention given to patients. Three study insights: 1. The researchers applied the standard measure- ments across EHR systems using different vendor products; they examined Yale New Haven Health, which uses Epic, and MedStar, which uses Cerner. The study also included data from 573 physicians across multiple specialties. 2. The most time was spent by physicians in gastroen- terology, internal medicine and family medicine. 3. Physicians in surgical specialties, sports medicine, neurology and psychiatry and obstetrics and gynecol- ogy spent the least amount of time in the EHR. n VA pauses $16B Cerner EHR rollout for 3rd time: 6 details By Jackie Drees T he Department of Veterans Affairs paused deployment activities for its $16 billion Cerner EHR system at a second site until it has completed a strategic review of the project and shared the results with Congress, according to an April 14 Federal News Network report. Six details: 1. e VA was scheduled to go live on the Cerner EHR at its second site in Columbus, Ohio; the department launched the EHR in October at its first site: Mann-Grandstaff VA Medical Center in Spokane, Wash. 2. VA employees who use the EHR at Mann-Grandstaff have expressed usability and productivity concerns with the system, which prompted the department to launch a strategic review this March. 3. e department's rollout has hit a few snags over the past year; VA delayed the de- ployment in February 2020 to finish build- ing the EHR and then further postponed the go-live in April 2020 to focus on its COVID-19 response. 4. VA on April 14 reaffirmed its commitment to the Cerner EHR and said it would provide more updates to Congress on the program's progress as the review continues. e depart- ment is reviewing the program's requirements and also tracking how long specific tasks take in the EHR to evaluate user experience. 5. VA employees at Mann-Grandstaff have raised 247 patient safety concerns with the new EHR since the system went live in Oc- tober, said Robert Fischer, MD, director of the Mann-Grandstaff VA Medical Center, ac- cording to the report. 6. VA and Cerner acknowledged the work that needs to be done to address the concerns: "As with any healthcare IT transformation, we knew there would [be] challenges," Cerner Government Services General Manager Bri- an Sandager told the publication. "Sometimes what you design on paper is over-engineered and it doesn't fit local workflows, and we need to modify those." As of May 7, the rollout was still paused. n