Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts Jumps on the CPOE Bandwagon

Dark Daily: Clinical Laboratory and Pathology News & Trends
November 19, 2008

...Physicians use CPOE to enter every medical order, prescription, diagnostic test (including clinical laboratory tests) into a central database.  The CPOE initiative in Massachusetts grew out of the results of a study by the New England Healthcare Initiative and the Massachusetts Technology Collaborative.  Researchers determined that 1 in every 10 patients admitted to 6 Massachusetts hospitals suffered serious and avoidable medication mistakes.  They also found that CPOE could cut the medication error rate. CPOE use would save community hospitals millions of dollars by shortening the length of stay for patients, decreasing error rates, and reducing unnecessary use of drugs and the ordering of inappropriate laboratory tests....

Link to Full Article: http://www.darkdaily.com/ebriefings/blue_cross_blue_shield_massachusetts_ju…