The ProMedica iCare Story

As providing health care becomes more complex, ProMedica recognizes the need for change and is taking steps to support our patients and other customers, and the people who care for them.

Numerous medications and the need to understand and act on potential drug interactions, policy changes and new requirements, and government reform incentivizing health systems to achieve meaningful use of an electronic health record are all factors impacting health care today. And, innovation will continue to change the practice of medicine dramatically.

In response to this, Promedica iCare is an initiative combining operational and process changes with patient care technology to help drive quality and improvements in our delivery of care. Information technology will serve as the backbone supporting the workflow and process changes within ProMedica.

ProMedica iCare will connect the care delivery system through seamless information across all facilities. As ProMedica iCare is implemented, technology will be more integrated and have a common “language” that will make communications more consistent as well as transparent, or accessible. By doing this, it will clarify and simplify the patient experience, allowing them access to their medical and health information online. It also will reduce the likelihood of medical error, reduce costs and increase patient and member satisfaction.

By creating an environment where patient care information is shared across all providers, our patients and their families can enjoy improved outcomes. Some key benefits of the ProMedica iCare environment include:

   • Enhanced safety and quality
   • Increased efficient care
   • Reduced cost
   • Established environment that is more efficient and effective in measuring patient outcomes,
     with a focus on ways to improve patient care
   • Increased ability of patients to participate in their plan of care

Changes in information technology and the establishment of best practices will allow us to perform with a high level of quality, more efficiently, and to enhance safety at a lower cost; but it is the people of ProMedica who will change how our work is accomplished.

ProMedica iCare will extend through all aspects of the organization from patient to provider, acute care to care coordination to ambulatory services, and to business and clinical analysis and reporting.

There are multiple iCare teams at work system-wide that will have an impact on how we care for patients. Watch future issues of Inside for more about their key areas of focus and what the work they are doing means for all of us.