Leading Medical and Rehabilitation Hospital Chooses Meta for Solutions to Improve Medication Safety
FLORAL PARK, NY — February 22, 2008 — Meta, a supplier of comprehensive medication safety information systems for the healthcare industry, announced today that Atlanta-based Shepherd Center has selected the company’s pharmacy information system and point-of-care medication administration system to lead the way toward improved medication safety. Shepherd Center is one of the nation’s leading rehabilitation hospitals, specializing in the treatment of people with spinal cord injuries, acquired brain injuries, multiple sclerosis, chronic pain and other neurological conditions.
Shepherd Center wanted a system that used a single drug database for both pharmacy order entry and eMAR for nurses. Before the Meta integrated solution, the Center used two separate software systems with two different drug databases, one for pharmacy and another for nursing, making maintenance of the databases difficult and time consuming.
“With MetaCare Rx™, we hope to vastly improve the pharmacy system’s integration with the rest of our computer systems,” stated Jeff Couch, IS Manager for Shepherd Center. “Meta’s ease of use far surpassed all the other systems we looked at, and the user interface is very intuitive. Meta is one of the few systems that use only one drug database for both pharmacy order entry and eMAR.”
Meta’s pharmacy information system, MetaCare Rx, is a complete software system that will manage all aspects of Shepherd Center’s inpatient pharmacy department and allow the hospital to strongly support patient medication safety initiatives by means of a comprehensive set of powerful, yet flexible, clinical modules. MetaCare Rx integrates with all key enterprise applications and devices, including CPOE, ADT, billing, laboratory, drug wholesaler, point-of-care medication safety systems and various automated medication dispensing machines.
Building on the success of MetaCare Rx, Meta developed MetaCare eMAR™, a Web-based point-of-care medication administration system which helps eliminate medication errors right at the point of care. With MetaCare eMAR, nurses at Shepherd Center can use barcode technology to document progress notes, adverse drug reactions and medication incidences in one location. Nurses are provided with up-to-the-minute patient indices, such as vital signs, along with laboratory results which are valuable for an individual patient.
“The Meta solution is easy to use and provides more functionality than any of the other systems we’ve seen,” remarked Steve Baxter, Director of Pharmacy at Shepherd. “It adds another level of safety for our patients and takes care of a lot of the billing issues we’ve had in the past, too.”
Added Brian Park, Inpatient Pharmacy Coordinator for Shepherd, “When our hospital representatives visited other hospital sites using Meta, they heard only positive comments. We are looking forward to MetaCare Rx and MetaCare eMar working together flawlessly to improve our patient care.”
Meta is a healthcare information technology leader with software and professional consulting services that enable hospitals and providers to efficiently and effectively manage their delivery of HIT services. Serving U.S. hospitals and supporting global HIT initiatives with a dedicated staff of nearly 30 professionals, the company has continually received the highest accolades from groups such as KLAS Enterprises, which has consistently awarded Meta the highest scores in its survey for pharmacy systems.
“We are excited to be working with one of the top rehabilitation hospitals in the country to help them improve medication safety and therefore improve the overall safety of their patients,” explained Sal Barcia, CEO of Meta. “For the past 15 years, Meta has built a rock-solid reputation for excellent products backed by intimate, responsive support.”
About Shepherd Center
Shepherd Center in Atlanta is one of the nation’s leading hospitals specializing in the medical and rehabilitation treatment of people with spinal cord injury and disease, acquired brain injury, multiple sclerosis and other neuromuscular disorders and urological problems. Shepherd Center is a Model Center in spinal cord injury and an official Multiple Sclerosis Center, designated by the National Multiple Sclerosis Society Georgia Chapter. Founded in 1975, the 120-bed not-for-profit hospital offers a continuum of health care services, from intensive care through inpatient medical surgical care, rehabilitation, day program and outpatient and residential services.
About Meta
For more than 15 years, Meta has been developing software solutions that meet the needs and exceed the expectations of the healthcare industry by providing innovative and comprehensive clinical information solutions to hospitals and other healthcare enterprises. Organizations seeking excellent products backed by highly motivated and committed support have chosen Meta for the best solutions at reasonable costs.
For more information, contact Meta at (800) 768-1920 or .