An automated PSRO-utilization review system.

A set of computer programs collects, processes, and reports Professional Standards Review Organization (PSRO) and utilization data for all patients at the Miami Heart Institute. They help reduce the time spent by physicians in PSRO and utilization review activities and ease the clerical work load required to comply with rules and guidelines. Daily printed reports provide attending physicians with their patient census and inform them of the next scheduled PSRO review dates for each of their patients.

On-line computer management of cardiac surgical data.

The surgeon (or one of his assistants) enters, in a computer file, information on open-heart surgical procedures though a remote terminal located in the recovery room. Clinical and historical findings, complications occurring during the immediate postoperative period, and postmortem data when applicable are entered in the course of the hospital stay or after discharge. Relevant information entering the computer system in other hospital departments is automatically incorporated in the open-heart surgery file.

An automated electrical safety and preventive maintenance program.

The Miami Heart Institute's Electrical Safety and Preventive Maintenance Program has been designed as a stand-alone component of a large-scale, computer-based hospital information system. It ensures regularly scheduled routine inspections, preventive maintenance and, where applicable, calibration of the institution's diagnostic, therapeutic and other electrical equipment used in patient care. The program also schedules and documents inspection of buildings, service equipment and grounding systems.

On-line computer storage, retrieval, and reporting of coded angiographic data.

Interpretations of angiographic images have been coded and stored using an on-line computer terminal for seven years. Decoded angiographic information is incorporated in computer-generated reports which are printed on demand after completion of cardiac catheterization procedures. Currently, almost 5,500 cases are stored in an off-line data base which has been designed to help identify patterns with prognostic potential.

On-line storage, retrieval, and evaluation of long-term electrocardiographic monitoring data.

A set of on-line computer programs has been designed and implemented for the acquisition and long-term storage, retrieval, and evaluation of Holter monitoring data. The physician interpreting Holter tapes enters his findings in the computer system using an on-line remote terminal located in the heart station. The programs are available practically around the clock and allow reviewing of individual cases, preparation of printed reports, and fast evaluation of the presence or absence of a number of common findings in the entire data base.