“We anticipate 3M solutions to be instrumental in helping us
cut costs and operate more efficiently. Our savings on forms in respiratory therapy
and nursing should be at least $38,000 a year once we complete implementation.”
– Debbie Bowlby, director of information systems,
Warren Hospital
Transforming patient information from a paper-based to an electronic system is a
major project for any hospital, requiring the careful selection of appropriate systems,
proper implementation and the understanding and cooperation of hospital staff and
providers.
Despite the work involved, Warren Hospital, a not-for-profit community hospital
in Phillipsburg, NJ, decided that implementing a document scanning and viewing system
was imperative if the organization was going to aggressively pursue efforts to cut
costs and streamline patient care. The hospital knew such a system would help eliminate
the cost of printing and handling paper documents; speed up the revenue cycle by
allowing the coding of charts to commence more quickly; and improve patient care
by making patient information available more quickly to authorized care providers
and staff.
Recognizing that a hospital-wide implementation would disrupt day-to-day operations,
Warren Hospital leaders sought a solution that would allow them to implement on
a department-by-department basis. “Each department of our hospital has its
own needs and ways of doing things,” says Marsha Faden, director, HIM. “A
one-size-fits-all approach that some vendors offered was not going to work for us.
We needed a scanning and viewing solution that was flexible enough to meet the needs
of staff and providers in the ED, nursing stations, respiratory therapy and all
of our other various departments—each with its own procedures.”
One department at a time
After evaluating a number of scanning and viewing systems, Warren Hospital decided
that the 3M™ ChartScan™ Software and 3M™ ChartView™ Software
would offer the best in features and reliability, plus they would integrate with
other 3M products already in use at the facility. The facility implemented 3M ChartScan
for electronic document capture and storage at the point of patient encounter, and
3M ChartView as a single-source electronic document viewing tool. “We started
with the emergency department, then one nursing unit and chemotherapy,” says
Debbie Bowlby, director of information systems. “For the most part, the implementations
went very smoothly. In addition to being able to implement the system on a department-by-department
basis, we were also able to add new chart types as we needed them.”
Some departments were reluctant to implement the new system—at least at first. In
order to get the most benefit from 3M ChartScan and 3M ChartView, Warren Hospital
had to make improvements in workflow and procedures. As Faden notes, “The
emergency department had the most paper and the most to gain with the new system.
They quickly realized the time and cost-saving benefits and now would never go back
to the old system.”
One major benefit of having documents available electronically was that coders were
able to work from home. “We now have coders working two to two-and-a-half
hours away,” Faden says. “It is hard to find good coders in this area,
but with at-home coding, we were able to expand our recruiting area. We were also
able to keep some of our coders who we would have lost had it not been for the new
remote coding program we were able to establish with the help of 3M.”
Warren Hospital’s ED has a high volume of documents and specimens, so scanning at
the point of service is essential. 3M’s point of service module makes it possible
for them to keep track of essential information in “a much more efficient
manner,” according to Bowlby.
The organization now uses labels that do not fade out when exposed to moisture or
sweat, so patients can keep their wristbands even when they are moved to other parts
of the hospital. “We took the bed and room numbers off the wristbands so there
wouldn’t be any confusion if the patient was moved to a different part of the hospital,”
Bowlby says.
The 3M chart management solution has also proven itself at Warren Hospital. “3M™
ChartFact™ and 3M™ ChartLocator™ are really strong tools,”
Faden notes. “They give us control over incomplete charts, especially in making
sure that letters are sent to doctors in an efficient and timely manner.”
3M ChartFact and 3M ChartLocator have proven to be particularly useful when The
Joint Commission does a walk-in review. As Faden describes it, “The Joint
Commission can do a review and walk in just about any day. In addition, with the
3M™ ClinTrac™ software and Crystal Reports© we moved the ED log
from registration to becoming a byproduct of our abstracting system. 3M products
have helped us keep completely current on required data by regulatory and accrediting
agencies.”
For more information on how our solutions can assist your organization, contact
your 3M sales representative, call us toll-free at 800-367-2447,
or visit us online at www.3Mhis.com.