Broadwater Health Center, on behalf of members of the Montana Rural Healthcare Performance Improvement Network (PIN), is applying for AHRQ Information Technology Planning Grant funding in order to assess opportunities to decrease adverse drug events and medication errors in frontier Montana Critical Access Hospitals. This one-year planning process is designed to identify appropriate, cost effective Health Information Technology (HIT) solutions to medication use challenges in low-volume, resource-deficient frontier hospitals. This project will support the following AHRQ long-term HIT initiative goals: 1. Successfully deploy or enable the deployment of hospital HIT practices that reduce medical errors and improve overall patient safety. 2. Increase the identification and reporting of medical errors and adverse events. 3. Decrease in number the actual errors and adverse events. Outcomes of the planning process will identify HIT solutions which PIN members may pursue collaboratively or individually to provide clinical and organizational benefits to frontier CAHs, the priority populations they serve and the community-wide health infrastructure. Successful completion of the planning process will lead to securing an AHRQ Information Technology Implementation Grant next year for interested PIN participants.
