Berkshire County hospitals go silent

Berkshire Health Systems, including Berkshire Medical Center (BMC) in Pittsfield and Fairview Hospital in Great Barrington, were without part of its computer system from Friday to Sunday, according to sources. That was approximately 56 hours.

Hospital officials said it was due to a server connection.

BMC is a 302-bed community hospital, is ranked among the Top 100 Hospitals and is a recipient of a Best in Value Award for 2010 by the Hospital Value Index and a recipient of HealthGrades Distinguished Hospital Award for Clinical Excellence for 2009.

Fairview Hospital, Berkshire Health Systems’ affiliate community hospital, is a 25-bed federally-designated critical access hospital.

Early on it was unclear whether it was a malfunction of the computer, its network, the server and/or the software called Meditech, a Massachusetts-based hospital platform the hospital has used for 10 years.

Both BMC and Fairview were on code “ANNEX IT” during the duration which forced personnel in admitting, processing of medicines and doctors’ comments and discharge information to function abnormally and put things on paper for documenttion when the system was re-booted.

One source noted it was like going back to “paper and pencil,” which is time consuming and requires additional personnel to oversee and double check the entries and information.

One observer noted that with technology comes the ability to process a patient and his/her health issues-timely and that requires doctors, nurses and pharmacists to be on the same page – a computer’s mainframe.

When the system fails, it means filling out “orders” by hand.

According to the Obamacare, electronic systems save time for the doctor and personnel to monitor and offer a clear view of the issues, thus reducing costs.

Michael Leary, director of media relations at Berkshire Health Systems, told The Berkshire Beacon it went down Friday at 7 a.m., and the system was operational as of Sunday afternoon and back in service on Monday. Between Sunday and Monday personnel were keying in information put on paper.

Mr. Leary, in a statement Sunday, said: “One component, Meditech, which is our inpatient hospital electronic patient record system, is currently in a downtime.

“The downtime began Friday morning and is still currently in effect.

“Meditech is, of course, an important component of our computerized systems, but we have effective downtime procedures in the event the system is offline, as it is now.

“BMC has used the Meditech system for over 10 years, and while every electronic system can experience periodic downtimes, this is the first significant downtime we have experienced, and by significant I mean an event lasting more than one day.

“In most instances, when Meditech is down, it is offline for a period of minutes or hours.

The cause of this current lengthy downtime is being investigated,” He said.

Comprehensive emergency operations

Mr. Leary continued: “BMC has a comprehensive emergency operations program that is designed to respond and act on any potential unexpected situation, including information systems downtimes, and it was immediately enacted when the system went down.

“The plan includes backup documentation, or downtime procedures, that revert us to paper documentation, so that we can continue to provide optimal patient care in the event of a loss of Meditech.

“These downtime procedures were activated and have been used effectively since the beginning of the downtime.

“Our top priority is the uninterrupted continuation of optimal patient care, and throughout any downtime we implement additional resources, as needed, for any and all patient care units so that our physicians and nurses and support staff can concentrate on providing direct patient care.

“The care that we provide our patients is kept at the same level during any situation and our patients and their family members should notice no impact from this situation.

“Our clinicians and staff never waiver from this tenet.

“Our information technology (IT) personnel have worked around the clock to diagnose the issue and implement plans to restore the system, and are a very dedicated team of experts.

“We learn from every experience, and following this event, we will carefully examine the circumstances surrounding it and develop and implement plans that are designed to help prevent it from occurring again.”

Posted by George C. Jordan III on June 27, 2013. Filed under Community News,News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry