Spokane, Wash.-based Mann-Grandstaff Medical Center lacks critical quality and patient safety metrics even after one year post Cerner EHR launch, according to a June 1 report from the Department of Veterans Affairs' Office of Inspector General.
The report highlighted that one year after the Cerner EHR system went live at Mann-Grandstaff Medical Center, the center still had gaps between required metrics and those that were available using EHR data.
These gaps, according to the report, prevent Mann-Grandstaff Medical Center's officials from addressing organizational performance, quality and patient safety, and access to care at the facility.
Facility staff also said that after the EHR system went live, they utilized workarounds to mitigate the metrics gap, which ended up creating an increase in additional workload, and at times, required numerous hours or days to prepare just one metrics report.
EHR metrics provide organizational insights into how a health system is performing. The Office of Inspector General determined that many quality and patient safety metrics were unavailable for the facility.
This report comes shortly after legislation, passed by the House in November and by the Senate on May 26, is aiming to require the VA to submit a progress report each fiscal quarter regarding its Cerner EHR system.