Northridge Deal Announcement
Flagship hospital of the eighth-largest U.S. healthcare network looks to increase patient safety while improving compliance and charge capture with MEDHOST EDIS
ADDISON, Texas – Oct. 22, 2007 – MEDHOST, provider of the leading Emergency Department Information System (EDIS), today announced that Northridge Hospital Medical Center, located in Northridge, Calif., has implemented MEDHOST’s full-suite software to simplify patient registration, increase emergency department (ED) efficiencies, and improve patient safety and care. Northridge, the flagship hospital of Catholic Healthcare West, a 42-hospital system, chose MEDHOST to automate its ED because of its user-friendly touch screen, intuitive design and overall flexibility in customization. MEDHOST’s easy-to-use technology will ensure more thorough and complete documentation, automate compliance with regulatory guidelines and improve financial return with realtime charge capture.
“After narrowing our search to three vendors, it became critical to involve our staff – from the administrative side to clinical and IT – in the selection process. When polled, 16 of the 18 panel members said that MEDHOST was their first choice because of the intuitive tracking board and speed at which documentation can be completed,” said Dr. Stephen Jones, ED medical director at Northridge. “In addition, MEDHOST gives us the ability to customize the system to meet our unique needs, enabling the MEDHOST system to ‘speak Northridge.’ With MEDHOST, we now have a robust tool that has improved our ED.”
MEDHOST’s Administrative ToolKit enables Northridge to quickly and easily make modifications to existing system documentation templates so that Los Angeles County’s unique trauma care regulations are met, allowing Northridge to be compliant while effectively treating its patients. “We are already seeing a drastic change in the completeness of documentation since going live with MEDHOST. We are capturing things that were previously going undocumented, including procedures where nurses assist physicians and how long IV pumps are infusing,” said Barb Payne, director of emergency services. “Because MEDHOST designed charge capture as an automatic byproduct of documentation, nurses don’t have to figure out which procedure codes to use, so we are more accurately charging for the care we provide. This feature positively impacts hospital revenue and eliminates many manual processes.”
Additionally, Northridge will use MEDHOST’s auto-paging feature to enhance communication between departments. Once physicians push the discharge button in MEDHOST, registration will be paged to ensure that necessary insurance information is obtained prior to a patient leaving. In addition, housekeeping will automatically be alerted to clean the vacated room. These streamlined processes will further increase efficiency in the ED, which will lead to more throughput, decreased wait times, and ultimately, greater patient satisfaction.
“MEDHOST’s innovative technology and unique customization tools led Northridge to select us as their EDIS provider and to our acceptance by Catholic Healthcare West as a preferred vendor,” said Craig Herrod, president and CEO of MEDHOST. “Together with Northridge, MEDHOST is enhancing patient safety, increasing patient and staff satisfaction, and improving the ED’s financial performance – all of which are key goals for Catholic Healthcare West’s flagship hospital.”
MEDHOST currently serves more than 130 facilities, including Memorial Hermann Healthcare System in Houston, the Lifespan Health System of Rhode Island, and the Baylor Health Care System in Texas. MEDHOST is the preferred EDIS provider of VHA Inc., a national cooperative serving more than 2,400 not-for-profit healthcare organizations. MEDHOST easily integrates with leading healthcare information systems, including MEDITECH, Cerner, Siemens and McKesson.
About MEDHOST, Inc.
MEDHOST is a software solutions company that provides highly visual, easy to use process management technology for the healthcare industry. The MEDHOST product suite has been adopted by leading institutions throughout the United States and has proven to dramatically improve emergency department processes and financial performance. It is MEDHOST’s mission to ensure Customer satisfaction by providing the highest levels of quality, performance and service, as evidenced by top KLAS rankings year after year. Products include real time Patient Tracking, Nurse Charting, Physician Documentation, Order Entry and comprehensive reporting. MEDHOST is headquartered in Addison, Texas.
Additional information is available at www.medhost.com.
Contact: Christina Teagarden
Jetstream Public Relations, Inc.
972.788.9456, ext. 302
teagarden@jetstreampr.com
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