Leading Victorian healthcare network, Alfred Health, has extended its long-standing Oracle Health footprint with Oracle's Oncology electronic health record (EHR) solutions to support care for cancer patients. By moving from paper-based processes to digitized records, primary care and specialty clinicians across Alfred Health's in and out-patient locations now have a single view of each patient's complete medical history. The integrated records not only promise to help save physicians' valuable time, but also help improve the safety and quality of care with a clear view into cancer patient's treatment plans, therapies, and current medications.

"Completely digitizing and making cancer treatment information easily available in our EHR makes guiding the overall treatment plan for patients more efficient," said Erica Tong, chief pharmacy information officer, Alfred Health.

Streamlining technology to further advance care
Beyond just record access, Alfred Health is leveraging Oracle EHR to help connect Alfred Health patients with more cancer clinical trial opportunities. Trials can be viewed directly in the EHR so clinicians can easily identify possible therapies and eligibility for patients. If a patient is already involved in a trial, their progress and details are tracked and documented within their overall health record.

Pharmacist processes are streamlined as well, helping prepare cancer patient treatment plans in more timely fashion, with order information being pushed directly from the EHR into the pharmacy management system. Barcodes are also generated for each treatment so nurses can scan to confirm the prescribed medication is going to the right patient and in the correct dose.

Prior to these cancer treatment enhancements, Alfred Health was the first hospital in the region to implement electronic prescriptions (eprescribe) within a hospital EHR to help make prescribing and dispensing medications more efficient and accurate. Patients now can receive prescriptions as a barcode via SMS or e-mail to be presented to a community pharmacy for dispensing. 

"Alfred Health has long been at the forefront of innovation in adopting technologies that break down the barriers to safer and more efficient care," said Seema Verma, executive vice president and general manager, Oracle Health and Life Sciences. "This recent implementation is especially unique and special as it not only helps caregivers more effectively treat cancer patients and manage medications over time through better access to information, but also helps them find and enroll in new, potentially life-saving therapies all within the EHR."

Alfred Health also worked with Oracle to enable support of the national Safescript program, a centralized database that allows prescribing and dispensing records for certain high-risk medicines to be transmitted in real-time. By integrating access to the national database with the Oracle EHR, clinicians can view prescription history directly in their existing workflows to help facilitate the early identification, treatment, and support for patients developing signs of dependence. Alfred Health also was one of the first hospitals in Australia to digitize immunization records sharing from the Oracle EHR to the national registry to help ensure vaccinations are consistently and accurately administered and tracked within any venue of care.