SMITHSBURG, Md. (PRWEB)
June 21, 2023

Appalachian Regional Healthcare System (ARHS) upgrades Charles A. Cannon Jr. Memorial Hospital (Cannon Memorial Hospital) with technological enhancements, including the implementation of MEDI+SIGN Digital Whiteboards and MEDI+SIGN Digital Door Displays, aligning with ARHS’s commitment to providing top quality patient care.

With a shared vision to provide robust specialty care, ARHS recently joined UNC Health to lead transformational change in primary care to improve lives in the High Country region of North Carolina. Through a comprehensive, long-term Management Services Agreement (MSA) between the two organizations, ARHS can invest in services, technology, equipment, and facilities.

Cannon Memorial Hospital, an ARHS member, is designated as a Critical Access Hospital (CAH) to ensure long-term operational and financial viability and to better extend services to the local community.

Cannon Memorial Hospital ranked in the top 5% of healthcare providers in delivering patient experience last year, winning them the 2022 Human Experience (HX) Guardian of Excellence Award® by Press Ganey. “Our mission to improve the overall safety, quality, and experience of care to our patients moves us to constantly seek out improvements to our processes and technology,” says Chuck Mantooth, Appalachian Regional Healthcare System’s CEO. “Enhancing our patient rooms with MEDI+SIGN’s solution positions us for outstanding patient communication and care.”

The inpatient rooms at Cannon Memorial Hospital feature upgrades from the outdated dry-erase whiteboards and static door signs to fully automated and real-time 43” digital in-room whiteboards and 15.6” door displays to help keep patients and families better informed about their care. The solution also improves safety with real-time alerts for patients attempting to leave the bed by providing visual and spoken audio warnings. MEDI+SIGN also helps staff ensure that care boards update in real-time with automatic data flows from the electronic medical record and other connected sources.

“The MEDI+SIGN electronic patient room whiteboards replace the traditional dry-erase boards in the patient rooms eliminating manual entry, drastically increasing staff satisfaction,” says David Linetsky, Founder/CEO of MEDI+SIGN. “The door displays provide an overview of any patient isolation procedures, safety alerts, precautions, and other risks to the healthcare team. These patient safety enhancements drastically streamline the coordination of care.”

MEDI+SIGN is the perfect partner being fully integrated with Allscripts®, ARHS’s current electronic medical record (EMR), and Epic®, UNC’s current EMR, to display the patient’s real-time healthcare data to clinicians, patients, and their families. MEDI+SIGN also uses data from ARHS’s Real-Time Locator System (RTLS) to support rounding initiatives, providing peace of mind to the patient and family.

MEDI+SIGN focuses on improving HCAHPS and ensuring patient safety by reducing falls and other sentinel events. Cannon Memorial Hospital’s smart beds integrate with MEDI+SIGN ANTI-FALL™ technology to alert healthcare staff, patients, and families of potential fall risks by sending alerts to the digital whiteboards in the patient’s room and the hallway. Patented algorithms use the information in the patient’s electronic health record to detect the patient’s fall risk and other factors to determine if the smart bed is in its safest position.

About Cannon Memorial Hospital

Charles A. Cannon, Jr. Memorial Hospital, a member of Appalachian Regional Healthcare System, is an 8-bed critical access hospital. The full-service emergency department, imaging department, laboratory, outpatient behavioral health, and Rehabilitation Center offering physical and occupational therapies round out the list of services. Conveniently located in Linville, the center point of Avery County, Cannon Memorial Hospital is fully accredited by the Joint Commission for the Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations. For more information, visit apprhs.org/cannon/.

About Appalachian Regional Healthcare System

Appalachian Regional Healthcare System (ARHS) is comprised of three hospitals, fifteen medical practices, a cancer center, a heart and vascular center, a pain management center, a rehabilitation center, and a healthcare foundation. ARHS is committed to Making Life Better through providing medical treatment, preventing illness, educating the healthcare professionals of tomorrow, researching new ways to fight disease, and working in our community to build a healthier High Country. For more information, visit apprhs.org.

About UNC Health

UNC Health is a state entity and an affiliated enterprise of the University of North Carolina system, comprised of 14 hospitals, 18 hospital campuses and more than 500 clinics along with the clinical patient care programs of the UNC School of Medicine (SOM). It exists to improve the health and well-being of North Carolinians and others we serve and to further the teaching mission of the University of North Carolina SOM. Over the past three years, UNC Health has provided more than $400 million in uncompensated or charity care to the citizens of North Carolina. Our hospitals have received numerous awards and recognition for quality care, patient safety and the overall patient experience. For more information, please visit unchealth.org.

About MEDI+SIGN

MEDI+SIGN is a game-changing communication tool used by hospitals that are pursuing the creation, improvement, and sustainability of their quality and safety goals. Driven and perfected by evidence-based outcomes, MEDI+SIGN deploys strategies tailored to the hospital’s specific needs and existing workflows. This unique approach allows hospitals to experience quality and safety transformations without negatively impacting the day-to-day workflow of staff. MEDI+SIGN is the first and only patient-facing technology in its class that requires zero effort from clinical staff while reinvesting time back to the bedside. With patient experience and complex psychology at the epicenter of this technology, patients are kept informed, satisfied, and safe. Beyond patient experience, MEDI+SIGN focuses on improving HCAHPS and increasing patient safety by preventing falls as well as other sentinel events related to HAC, among other CMS programs. To experience these results for yourself, visit medisigndisplays.com.

Allscripts is a registered trademark of Allscripts Healthcare LLC

Epic is a registered trademark of Epic Systems Corporation

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