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Currents To Medical Center employees: I want to commend the Medical Center (Hospital Authority) payroll office for doing an exceptional job in planning for a smooth conversion of the monthly payroll to the biweekly schedule. I also want to thank the 370 concerned employees and the payroll timekeepers throughout the Medical Center for your cooperation and understanding.  The new payroll schedule, beginning in October, will improve our efficiency. Preparation of monthly time summaries by timekeepers throughout the Medical Center will no longer be required. There will be a net reduction from 38 to 26 payrolls, not including the supplemental payroll. It is noteworthy that this payroll conversion and the addition of 450 Ambulatory Care employees has been accomplished without adding any new payroll staff.  Thanks very much to all concerned for a job well done. W. Stuart Smith Vice President for Clinical Operations and Executive Director, MUSC Medical Center   STAR Productions Spotlight MUHA ‘goes Hollywood’ to prep for Joint Commission  Wanting it to be an affair to remember, an all-star cast from the Medical Center—Stuart Smith, Lisa Montgomery, John Heffner, Marilyn Schaffner, Joan Herbert, Betts Ellis, Charles Winstead, Dave Neff, Tom Moore, Hal Currey, Rosemary Ellis, Lois Kerr—performed with verve and comic clarity to drive home this basic point: JCAHO readiness is not an option, it’s a necessity and MUSC has the team to carry it out. STAR Productions, which stands for Survey Teams Always Ready, has launched a multi-media approach to making sure MUSC maintains a high standard of compliance. In the words of Currey, who appeared wearing a cowboy hat and spurs, MUSC has everything to make the Medical Center a winner. “We have excellent processes, teamwork, knowledge and talent as well as a cast and crew that is definitely Oscar material,” he said. The premiere performance, held during the Sept. 24 communications meeting, elicited raucous laughter from the crowd of directors and managers. Kerr reinforced the following plot line: Leadership is key to survey readiness throughout the organization Participation by everyone results in success Creating a climate of fun related to standards is an excellent way to share the message The cast and crew carrying out the JCAHO readiness effort consist of senior leadership, managers, directors, the message team, design team and delivery team and reviewers. In short, everyone. During the coming weeks, the plan will be communicated a variety of ways, including through: Communications meetings New Web page design E-mails Blue Book Newsletter Notebooks on each site Beginning Oct. 1, a host of special attractions will feature: A double feature starring Mo Sheakley in “The Perfect Storm,” a medication prescription update, and “The Great Escape,” featuring medication security. Oct. 1. “Oh Brother Where Art Thou,” featuring interdisciplinary care planning teams formerly known as “Lean on Me.” Oct. 8. “Part II” – Interdisciplinary care planning teams. Oct. 15. “The Good, the Bad and the Ugly,” a mock survey. Oct. 21 – 23. “Top Gun,” which will feature the new documentation system. Oct. 22. “Fatal Attraction,” starring those ever lethal “no-brainers.” Oct. 29. Stuart Smith thanked Julie Adam, Ann Benton, Harriett Cooney, Michael Daffin, Carol Dobos, Terri Ellis, Janis Hazy, Lois Kerr, Linda Randazzo and Elizabeth Watson for their creativity and hard work in developing the program for the Sept. 24 communications meeting and for spearheading STAR productions. To close out the premiere performance, Stuart Smith presented the traveling Oscar, a monthly award that will give special recognition to a team demonstrating best practices. The first winner is the Point of Care Testing Team for their recent outstanding preliminary JCAHO Point of Care Testing (POCT) survey score. Accepting the award on behalf of Donna McClellan, director of Laboratory Services, and the entire lab division, was Marilyn Schaffner. “I’m really thrilled with the results,” she said. Best supporting role went to Cindy Snyder, R.N., nurse manager for Neonatal ICU. “Cindy set an excellent tone in the opening conference for the recent POCT survey by explaining a performance improvement initiative,” said Smith, as he handed her the star-shaped award. Kerr concluded the presentation saying, “We want to see you all in the movies, not at the movies!” Information management needs assessment survey released The results of the most recent information management needs assessment survey, which was conducted in the spring, show that the single highest priority mentioned in the survey was the implementation of an electronic medical record, particularly computerized physician order entry and inpatient clinical documentation. Dave Northrup, director of Healthcare Computing Services, highlighted several key differences in this year’s survey as compared to the previous surveys. In particular: Utilization of the medical records document imaging system, Lanvision’s Omnivision software, had the largest increase in response to a question regarding “what automated information management systems do you use?” The Omnivision system is now ranked fourth behind Kronos, Oacis and Keane. Improvements of between 6 percent and 13 percent were experienced in the following areas – linkage of clinical and administrative data, use of aggregate data for making PI decisions, and the utilization of external comparative databases.  The highest ranked areas, or areas with the most significant improvements, include confidentiality of patient information, integration of information systems and the availability of knowledge resources such as the Internet searches or library resources.   Northrup pointed out that the score of 4.11 (on a scale of 1-low to 5-high) for improved confidentiality represents an increase of 15 percent from the previous year, which he describes as a significant improvement.  This improvement has likely been accomplished as a result of several factors, specifically, automated audit trails have been added to the Oacis system, which track each Oacis user’s accesses. In addition, the Medical Center has hired an information security officer who actively reviews these audit trails. These measures have resulted in disciplinary action including a few employee terminations. The results of this survey are available on the Medical Center Intranet site (select Patient Care on the MUSC home page, then Medical Center Intranet, then select the Policies and Procedures ‘drop down’ and scroll to Information Management). “All measurements are steadily improving, which is very encouraging,” Northrup said. He thanked Jeff Burdick, CCIT, and Christine Lewis, Health Information Services, for their assistance with this effort Christine Lewis, manager, Coding and Record Processing, also gave an update on the Medical Center’s Information Management Plan, which is being revised and will be available on the Medical Center Intranet site soon.    Catalyst Online is published weekly, updated as needed and improved from time to time by the MUSC Office of Public Relations for the faculty, employees and students of the Medical University of South Carolina. Catalyst Online editor, Kim Draughn, can be reached at 792-4107 or by email, catalyst@musc.edu. Editorial copy can be submitted to Catalyst Online and to The Catalyst in print by fax, 792-6723, or by email to petersnd@musc.edu or catalyst@musc.edu. To place an ad in The Catalyst hardcopy, call Community Press at 849-1778.