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Eliminating Dictation Costs Saved $500,000 in One Year
Eight more MEDITECH hospitals successfully deploy and interface MEDHOST in their emergency departments.
MEDITECH is chosen as a HIS by many small to medium sized hospitals because it can be supported in a lean IT environment. Many MEDITECH hospitals have avoided adding strategic best of breed solutions in key environments like the Emergency Department (ED) because of fears about the resources required for interfacing and ongoing support of additional systems. Today many MEDITECH hospitals are choosing MEDHOST’s Emergency Department Information System (EDIS) to solve the many unique challenges and complex dynamic workflows of their fast paced EDs. MEDHOST’s robust, easy to use and clinician friendly system solves workflow and communication breakdowns unique to the ED. MEDHOST’s tried and true interfacing with MEDITECH has removed integration fears for MEDITECH hospitals. MEDHOST’s ease of use has led to improved charting accuracy and charge capture, elimination of dictation, increased staff satisfaction and proven ROI for MEDITECH hospitals.
Because MEDHOST is extremely scalable it makes sense for hospitals of all sizes. The following MEDITECH hospitals are among many that benefit from MEDHOST’s streamlined processes, financial improvements and better patient care and safety:
- Kalispell Regional Medical Center, Kalispell, Mont. – 23,000 annual ED visits
- Good Shepherd Medical Center, Longview, Texas – 79,000 annual ED visits
- Willis-Knighton Health System, Shreveport, La. – 120,000 annual ED visits
- Stanly Regional Medical Center, Albemarle, N.C. – 31,000 annual ED visits
- Conway Medical Center, Conway S.C. – 44,000 annual ED visits
Why MEDHOST?
MEDHOST invests heavily in clinical usability and research and development to meet technology, process and information sharing needs while considering the demands of the rigorous ED environment. MEDHOST has a deep departmental understanding because ED clinicians make up 25 percent of its workforce. It is this clinician centric commitment that makes MEDHOST the most powerful yet easiest to use EDIS.
MEDHOST clinicians – not software developers – designed the system to continually evolve with the end user in mind. MEDHOST has eliminated everything that clinicians hate about technology – F-key functions, multiple screens, drop down menus and tedious keystrokes. Clinicians love MEDHOST. Most MEDHOST Customers experience 100 percent compliance and charts are more accurate while charge capture improves. This yields dramatic ROI.
MEDHOST is known for its firm integration with MEDITECH and other enterprise solutions. MEDHOST continues to advance its system to ensure that more patient data – from the initial assessment to medication and allergy information – flows into the hospital’s HIS guaranteeing critical information is readily available.
Health system improves documentation and experiences significant ROI
Good Shepherd Medical Center is just one of many MEDITECH user success stories. The East Texas Level II trauma center was undergoing tremendous patient volume growth. ED and hospital leaders sought to decrease overcrowding by streamlining manual processes. The hospital wanted a powerful and easy to use EDIS that would enhance workflow and eliminate their manual charge capture process.
“The MEDHOST system is so easy to use that physicians and staff can’t help but feel as though it makes them more efficient. Now we get greater quality and quantity of documentation,” said Ron Short, director of nursing operations for Good Shepherd. “MEDHOST has been a wonderful interface partner and they understand our vision for how ED information needs to flow in and out of MEDITECH.”
With MEDHOST’s flexible charting and automatic behind the scenes charge capture, every procedure is charted and gets charged. More accurately assigning E&M levels yields significant increases in per patient revenue. With MEDHOST the intense manual auditing and coding process is removed. Better documentation resulted in Good Shepherd’s ED increasing gross charges per visit by about $100. The hospital eliminated a charge auditor position and invested that salary in additional ED staffing. Good Shepherd was also able to cut more than $325,000 in annual dictation costs with MEDHOST.
Streamlining processes across an Integrated Delivery Network
It was important to Willis-Knighton Health System that patients have an identical experience at each of its four EDs. With MEDHOST live and fully interfaced with MEDITECH in all of its EDs, clinicians get a comprehensive view of each patient’s history because patient information is easily recalled no matter which Willis-Knighton ED the patient visited.
In addition to eliminating dictation and improving charge capture, the Integrated Delivery Network (IDN) sought an EDIS that could easily unify and standardize its EDs by seamlessly interfacing with its system-wide MEDITECH HIS. Processes at each facility are more efficient because MEDHOST provides a dashboard view of the ED’s status through a highly visual graphical floor plan. Ancillary departments can also send and receive information to and from MEDHOST. This has resulted in better communications and quality of care across the IDN.
Willis-Knighton further improved processes through MEDHOST’s robust reporting feature. The reporting feature enables hospital executives to identify inefficient processes and analyze concrete data to pinpoint problem areas. Hospital managers now review general operations and justify staffing and other process changes. These steps resulted in faster Turnaround times and higher patient satisfaction scores. Patients who left without being seen dropped from 10 percent to 3 percent at one of the EDs.
“MEDHOST empowered each ED to improve its processes while addressing the underlying needs of the network and helping further enhance the level of care that patients receive from Willis-Knighton hospitals,” said Susan Cash, ED director at Willis-Knighton.
Improving patient satisfaction
A good patient experience strongly influences whether they will return to the same facility when in need of care; dissatisfied patients typically patronize competitive hospitals when the need for care arises. MEDHOST’s easy to use and robust software enables clinicians to begin care right at the bedside. This gives patients the face time they want and deserve instead of forcing caregivers to waste time hunting down paper charts or returning to a nurse’s station to access patient data and test results.
Kalispell Regional Medical Center improved the quality of patient care at their ED with MEDHOST’s bedside order entry and documentation. Kalispell clinicians are able to document in real time via tablet PCs and bedside computers which decreases medical errors and improves accuracy. Kalispell also can launch MEDITECH from within the MEDHOST application and that ensures direct access to information at any workstation.
“On top of exceeding our clinical expectations, MEDHOST’s dedication and support has been excellent,” said Allison Meilicke, ED director at Kalispell. “Our ED is benefiting from the enhanced communications, automatic charge capture and improved patient care and safety that make MEDHOST so different. We believe that Kalispell’s ED now has the best and most complete EDIS out there.”
Discrete patient data capabilities
MEDHOST combines unique interoperability with a discrete patient data interface that shares patient information recorded in the ED including medication allergies, initial admission assessment and home medications with the inpatient record system. At Conway Medical Center the baseline of information gathered in the ED flows directly into MEDITECH. This eliminates data reentry, decreases medical errors and ensures continuity of care. Sharing discrete patient data between MEDHOST and MEDITECH also improves chart accuracy and patient safety which helps ensure compliance with the Joint Commission’s requirements.
“We are required to obtain certain information for the patient record and with MEDHOST we can set up mandatory fields that prompt clinicians if this information isn’t gathered,” said Steve Lanning, director of emergency services at Conway Medical Center. “Prior to this integration the floor nurses had to repetitively ask patients for information but now they can simply verify data.”
Stanly Regional Medical Center also implemented the discrete data interface and has dramatically streamlined delivery of care. MEDHOST modified its content to match Stanly’s MEDITECH HIS so that the hospital can share the complete admit assessment between the systems. Information shared includes immunization history, past medical history, past surgical history and recreational drug, tobacco and alcohol use.
“Sharing discrete patient data has removed redundant questioning and data gathering by clinicians and this speeds the delivery of care while enabling our inpatient nurses to start care at a more in-depth level. This has improved clinical workflow while streamlining communication and heightened patient safety,” said Brian Freeman, vice president of diagnostics and information technology at Stanly Regional Medical Center.