Lawrence & Memorial Hospital Automates Product Alert Management Using RASMAS

Feb. 5, 2008 - PRLog -- Lawrence & Memorial Hospital has selected the Risk And Safety Management Alert System (RASMAS), developed by Noblis, Inc., to manage product alerts and recalls. The hospital serves towns along the Connecticut shoreline as well as areas in Rhode Island and New York. It offers state-of-the-art diagnostic imaging, hosts an affiliate program of the prestigious Joslin Diabetes Center, provides integrated cancer care, and has a number of satellite facilities in the region.

RASMAS is a web-based service that automates the distribution, receipt, and tracking of product alerts and recalls. It provides centralized oversight for alerts spanning across all products used in the healthcare environment. Alerts are gathered from numerous sources, delivered to the customer, and routed to the appropriate individuals according to a specified plan. Managers can readily see the status of each alert, and obtain summary statistics regarding close-out time.

Prior to the deployment of RASMAS, Lawrence & Memorial was using a manual system for managing alerts. Tracking the progress of each alert was extremely difficult, and no metrics were available to indicate whether they were being resolved in a timely fashion.  “The alerts were coming in from many different sources,” says Mike Passarelli, Director of Materials Management at Lawrence & Memorial, “yet we were not sure if we were getting all the alerts related to the products we use. Moreover, once the alerts arrived, we did not have a high level of confidence that they were properly routed, addressed, and resolved.”

The hospital became aware of RASMAS at an event sponsored by Yankee Alliance, a non-profit organization that provides services such as group purchasing and contract management to health care facilities. After seeing the product at the event, Passarelli requested a presentation so that Lawrence Memorial could further evaluate RASMAS. “Once we learned more about the product, we concluded that RASMAS could address our concerns, and we made a decision to move forward,” he states.

RAMSAS was deployed in September 2007 and is now used by approximately 25 individuals in 10 departments. “Because the system is web-based and has no client software, installation was very smooth,” comments Passarelli. “Training was provided via a WebEx presentation, with one-on-one follow-up for anyone who was not able to participate in that session. Our responders and coordinators were able to master the system with no difficulty.”

Lawrence & Memorial Hospital is now able to track the progress of each alert, and to obtain summary statistics on resolution time. “We have cut our closeout time to 2.1 days,” says Passarelli, “and we can pinpoint the status of any alert at any time. We are confident that we have taken an important step to enhance patient safety in our facilities.”

Recall management is conducted manually in most U.S. hospitals.  Over 2500 alerts are typically released each year, and all require review and attention by hospital staff.  The RASMAS service automates many of the tasks and supports workflow activities to ensure the alert is managed expediently.

Noblis welcomes Lawrence & Memorial to the growing RASMAS user community.  Subscribers report that using RASMAS has resulted, on average, in an 80 percent reduction in alert processing time, and a dramatic decrease in the number of days from notification to removal of products from use.  Such time-saving efforts will ensure that patients Lawrence & Memorial Hospital facilities continue to receive the highest quality of healthcare delivery possible.

About Lawrence & Memorial Hospital

Lawrence & Memorial is a not-for-profit, general, acute care, private hospital that has been serving this region since 1912.  The hospital, which is licensed for 280 beds,   provides patient care to medical, surgical, pediatric, rehab, psychiatric, and obstetrical patients. Its primary service area includes 10 towns along the Connecticut shoreline between Rhode Island and the Connecticut River and as far inland as Montville. The hospital is an important health care provider for the residents of Fishers Island, New York, the area known as Washington County, Rhode Island, and other parts of eastern Connecticut. The total service area population is approximately 180,000 people, expanding to 250,000 in the summer.

About Noblis

RASMAS was developed by Noblis, a nonprofit science, technology and strategy organization that helps clients solve complex scientific, systems, process and infrastructure problems in ways that benefit the public. Noblis brings the best of scientific thought, management and engineering know-how to find solutions that are practical, efficient, and effective. Noblis projects cover many fields, including national security; transportation; health care; citizen services; energy and the environment; and oceans, atmosphere and space.

For more information about Noblis: http://www.noblis.org
For more information about RASMAS: http://rasmas.noblis.org | 877-727-6276

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Noblis is a nonprofit science, technology and strategy organization that helps clients solve complex systems, process and infrastructure problems. From our unique impartial stance, we do what's right and what works best for our clients and the public good.  Noblis projects cover many fields, including national security; transportation; health care; citizen services; energy and the environment; and oceans, atmosphere and space.

Website: rasmas.noblis.org