VigiLanz Launches COVID Quick Start, a Respiratory Viral Illness Prevention Software, Partnering with Datica for Rapid Deployment

Posted on May 20, 2020November 3, 2022 by Leo Bogee

Hospitals can prepare for additional waves of COVID-19 and flu season in a matter of weeks, with no payments for six months

MINNEAPOLIS – May 20, 2020 – VigiLanz, a clinical surveillance company, today announced COVID Quick Start – a new solution that will enable hospitals to prepare for, prevent, and respond to the spread of COVID-19 and other respiratory viral illnesses. COVID Quick Start gives hospitals customizable real-time alerts and reports to manage viral outbreaks and exposures. Partnering with Datica for rapid deployment and supported by a team of VigiLanz’s certified infection preventionists, the software is designed to alleviate the burden on hospital IT resources and clinical staff while increasing patient safety. The solution is available for free for the first six months, with flexible financing options thereafter.

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COVID Quick Start uses VigiLanz’s clinical surveillance platform to help hospitals adapt to the evolving conditions associated with respiratory viral illnesses. The platform continuously pulls patient data from a variety of sources, including EHRs, and evaluates that data against rules that issue real-time alerts to clinical staff. The rules are designed to identify potential respiratory viral illnesses, ensuring early isolation and management of patients, and can also track disease clusters to identify local outbreaks and hospital acquisition.

“Our team recognized that VigiLanz’s software and expertise could be tailored to address the unique issues presented by this pandemic and other potential respiratory viral illnesses, and that we could design a solution with a low barrier to entry,” said Stacy Pur, Vice President of Product Development at VigiLanz. “We’ve built COVID Quick Start as a solution that works both for hospitals with well-funded infection prevention programs, and those where resources may be more restricted. These organizations are facing a possible second wave of COVID-19 on top of the upcoming influenza season. Our Quick Start solution, which provides the basics of what hospitals need to monitor – such as exposures, early case identification, COVID-19 state and federal reporting requirements, and isolation – will help hospitals quickly prepare for what is coming.”

Recognizing the urgency for hospitals to have a solution like this in place, COVID Quick Start uses VigiLanz Connect, an API solution for hospital EHRs, powered by Datica, to deliver an even faster integration. This solution minimizes the burden on hospital IT resources and enables COVID Quick Start to begin improving patient safety as quickly as possible.

“Datica has deep expertise, with over 400 successful EHR integrations,” said Dave Levin, MD, Chief Medical Officer at Datica. “We’re proud to collaborate with VigiLanz as their EHR integration partner to quickly launch their COVID Quick Start product.”

COVID Quick Start provides an easy and low-risk entry to the full suite of VigiLanz’s SaaS-based clinical surveillance solutions. VigiLanz helps health systems avoid or minimize harm, optimize clinical outcomes, and support preventive care by aggregating and monitoring disparate data in real time from across the EHR and other health system databases. VigiLanz was ranked No. 1 by KLAS Research this year across three categories – Antimicrobial Stewardship, Infection Control and Monitoring, and Pharmacy Surveillance. This is the third year in a row it has earned Category Leader designations from KLAS.

Learn more about COVID Quick Start at vigilanzcorp.com/covid-19/.

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About VigiLanz

Founded in 2001, VigiLanz (www.vigilanzcorp.com) is a privately held, rapidly growing provider of SaaS-based clinical surveillance solutions. The firm is focused on aggregating disparate EHR transactional workflow and documentation data across health systems to identify real-time clinical issues that avoid or minimize harm, optimize clinical outcomes and support preventive care. VigiLanz supports a large and growing community of hospital CMOs, CMIOs, CIOs, quality and safety teams, infectious disease and control specialists, pharmacists, and other clinicians dedicated to real-time inpatient and outpatient care.

About Datica

Datica is the only managed service provider (MSP) that solves healthcare’s biggest roadblocks–EHR integration and cloud compliance. Its integration solution enables data integration from any source, to any destination, in any format – without sacrificing PHI security. Datica’s cloud compliance solution offers end-to-end managed services for digital innovators to scale rapidly in the cloud, while ensuring HIPAA compliance and HITRUST certification are in place.

With over 400 live integrations and compliant cloud infrastructure for Fortune 500 companies, Datica’s deep expertise gives you the confidence and infrastructure to scale quickly and securely. For more info, visit:https://datica.com.

How COVID-19 Is Changing Patients’ Hospital Safety Perceptions

Posted on May 19, 2020 by Leo Bogee

Nearly 40% of consumers say COVID-19 has negatively changed their perception of hospital safety, and more than one-third (34%) say they would not feel confident going to a hospital for care if they or a family member had COVID-19.

That’s according to an April 2020 survey of 744 consumers by Sage Growth Partners and Black Book Market Research.

“COVID-19 will have an enduring impact not only on how care is delivered in the United States, but on how patients approach healthcare,” said David Goldsteen, MD, a former emergency physician and VigiLanz’s CEO.

A recent survey of 100 hospital leaders reveals that hospitals are making some patient safety improvements, but there’s still a long way to go.
Read the report

“While respect for healthcare providers is at an all-time high, many consumers fear that hospitals don’t have the resources necessary to provide high-quality care amidst the pandemic. Over the next few months, hospitals will need to move quickly to prepare for another potential surge and to rebuild consumer trust.”

How COVID-19 Will Change Hospital Safety Efforts

Posted on May 19, 2020May 19, 2020 by Leo Bogee

Two physician leaders share how their healthcare systems are ramping up efforts to enhance staff and patient safety.

VigiLanz’s 2020 Hospital Patient Safety Survey, which took place just prior to the COVID-19 outbreak in the U.S., found that hospital leaders are highly confident about their infection prevention programs. Seventy six percent of the 100 survey respondents characterized their hospital’s infection prevention efforts as extremely or very effective.

Still, COVID-19 is raising unprecedented challenges for hospitals. Despite heroic efforts, many are struggling to contain the virus’ spread and protect their staff members—largely due to personal protective equipment (PPE) shortages. As of April 9, more than 9,000 healthcare workers had tested positive for the virus, according to the CDC.

In response, hospitals are ramping up efforts to enhance staff and patient safety. As the senior vice president and chief physician executive at a large healthcare system in the mid-Atlantic region told us, employee safety continues to be a high level priority amidst COVID-19.

“We’re focused on reducing risk to our heroes serving on the front-line.”

“We are tracking this very closely,” he said. “Also, we are focusing on how to maintain safety in areas where there are decreased cases, such as the OR. We will also watch safety closely as new care models are implemented with different staffing models due to the surge.”

Quelling transmission of COVID-19 to healthcare providers is also a top priority at a large health system in the south-central region of the country. “We’re focused on reducing risk to our heroes serving on the front-line,” said the chief medical officer there. “We’re increasing our rotation of personnel to assist in decreasing fatigue and exposure, limiting visitors to our facility, and accelerating training of all personnel in proper donning and doffing of PPE.”

2020 Hospital Patient Safety Report, VigiLanz, May 2020

He added that COVID-19 will have a significant long-term impact on patient safety initiatives. “We’ll focus on more training on PPE, utilizing new disinfecting products and unique items to decrease staff exposures during intubations and particle aerosolizing, and on preparing for new or rebound viral pandemics/epidemics,” he said. “More resources will be allocated to personnel and training in infection prevention procedures.”

Find out how COVID-19 is changing patients’ hospital safety perceptions

Read the Report

Hospital Patient Safety Report 2020

Posted on May 19, 2020December 28, 2022 by Leo Bogee

Survey of hospital executives and clinical leaders reveals some patient safety progress—but there’s still a long way to go

To better understand the current state of patient safety and the biggest opportunities for improvement, VigiLanz commissioned Sage Growth Partners, a healthcare consultancy, to conduct an independent survey of 100 hospital and health system leaders in February 2020.

The goal: To learn directly from those on the hospital front lines—the physicians, nurses, infection preventionists, pharmacists, and more—about their top patient safety challenges.

Download the report to view the survey results, including:

Where the most patient safety progress is occurring
If technology is enhancing patient safety
What the most successful patient-safety improvement approaches are

Download the Report

Capital Region Medical Center Uses VigiLanz to Prevent Bedbug Infestations

Posted on May 8, 2020January 24, 2023 by Leo Bogee

Hospitals across the country are using VigiLanz to complement patient care in many ways. Top uses include pharmacy surveillance, infection prevention, antimicrobial stewardship, and opioid stewardship. But VigiLanz is also completely customizable, so the most innovative and forward-thinking hospitals are using it to create new and unique rules and interventions that lead to optimal patient care. Capital Region Medical Center is one of them.

Customer Profile

Capital Region Medical Center (CRMC), a 100-bed facility in Jefferson City, Missouri, is committed to providing superior patient care, and its safety and quality performance reflects that mission. The hospital, which provides the full spectrum of patient services, is the only one in the area to have received the Missouri Quality Award twice. The Joint Commission has also recognized CRMC as a top performer on quality metrics.

Challenge

An important aspect of providing high quality patient care is fostering a bedbug-free environment. But all hospitals—even those like CRMC that adhere to the highest cleanliness standards—can struggle to keep these pests at bay.

That’s because for most hospitals, bedbugs represent an external challenge, rather than an internal one. Many patients unknowingly bring bedbugs into facilities from the outside, and once the pests gain admittance, they quickly infiltrate the system.

Addressing these infestations can cost hospitals a significant amount of money. A March 2019 study of a 937-bed hospital in Cleveland, Ohio, found that during a one-year period, the hospital had 180 bedbug infestations. Costs were between $125 and $1,050 per infestation, with total costs for the year totaling $22,844 for the ED and $55,915 for the hospital.

While bedbug bites are generally not considered a health hazard, the itchy, red welts can lead to infections if patients scratch them. In hospitals, where there is a higher likelihood of catching MRSA, this is particularly problematic. Bedbug infestations also drive down patient satisfaction, which can lead to lower revenue for hospitals participating in value-based payment models.

Solution

In January 2017, CRMC implemented VigiLanz to support its pharmacy surveillance and infection prevention initiatives. Immediately, the value it provided became clear—and the healthcare providers’ use of the clinical surveillance platform has continually led to higher quality care and reduced costs (see sidebar).

But as CRMC was exploring the VigiLanz platform that January, they recognized there was much more they could be doing with it. “Since the software is completely customizable, we knew we could create new rules and alerts based on our needs and initiatives,” said Valerie Lyon, RN, AA, AS, BSN, CIC, Infection Preventionist at CRMC. “That led me to begin considering how we could use it to curb bedbugs.”

Less than one month after implementing VigiLanz, Lyon’s curiosity and innovative idea resulted in the rollout of a new protocol around bedbug-sightings at CRMC.

“The whole process was built around VigiLanz’s ability to automatically identify that lab result as soon as it is available, and immediately send an alert and email notification,” said Lyon.

CRMC is also using VigiLanz to address environmental bedbug sightings (when a bedbug is spotted but can’t be tied back to a specific patient). In this case, healthcare providers enter the bedbug information into the EMR as a lab for a “dummy patient.” If the lab determines that it is in fact a bedbug, VigiLanz automatically issues alerts and sends emails to the appropriate parties.

Outcomes

CRMC’s bedbug identification process is helping to prevent infestations, control costs, and increase efficiency, said Lyon. Since healthcare providers know much more quickly if there has been a potential bedbug sighting, and they are alerted as soon as a bedbug is confirmed, it’s much easier to limit the movement of these patients through the facility.

This reduces the number of rooms that need pest control treatment, said Lyon, noting that prior to implementing the new process, CRMC regularly performed pest control treatments in multiple rooms and procedural areas.

Since implementing VigiLanz in 2017, the average number of bedbug alerts issued annually has been 14, and CRMC has experienced zero infestations.

“The rules we created enable us to be proactive rather than reactive,” said Lyon. “The real-time alerts help us respond the same day we receive a bed bug alert, which mitigates any risk of a bedbug infestation.”

To learn more about how VigiLanz helps hospitals improve their patient safety and clinical surveillance, request a demo today.