At Froedtert Hospital, a patient with stomach pain was spared from having to undergo a CT scan, with its heavy dose of radiation, and instead got a safer, less-costly ultrasound.
At MetroHealth System in Ohio, medication errors involving heparin, a common but risky blood thinner, were eliminated in just one year.
At ThedaCare in the Fox Valley, the fatality rate from sepsis, a complication from infections, has fallen sharply.
All of these improvements stemmed from the wise use of electronic health records — computerized systems that are replacing paper charts in medical settings across the country.
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