In late October, software providers HSTpathways and Casetabs announced they were collaborating to develop more efficient, functional products for U.S. surgery centers.
Casetabs founder and CEO Gavin Fabian spoke to Becker's ASC Review about the collaboration and what it means for ASC customers.
Note: Responses were lightly edited for style and clarity.
Question: What is bi-directional integration?
Gavin Fabian: Bi-directional integration means two disparate software systems can send data to each other. In healthcare, bi-directional integration can have tremendous benefits, including time saved by eliminating the need to do manual data entry, reduced paper consumption/costs, and increased data accuracy by minimizing the potential for human error.
Q: How are HST and Casetabs collaborating to create it between their systems?
GF: A large number of ASCs and surgical sites use HSTpathways' practice management system and Casetabs' surgical case coordination system. As is often the case with disparate systems, there is a lot of manual data entry that is required to get information from one system to the next, and then back. HST and Casetabs have developed a bi-directional integration that automates major portions of the scheduling and case coordination process.
Nearly every case that goes to a surgery center comes from a practice through a fax. Data must then be entered into the center's practice management system. Now, surgery centers that accept a case through Casetabs are provided with all the corresponding case data from within Casetabs. This data flows directly into the HSTpathways practice management system after the case is approved in Casetabs. Any updates or changes along the way in one system appear seamless in the other system. Casetabs' data shows the average case takes 25 minutes for a surgery center to schedule and coordinate; we bring that down to 5 minutes. For a center doing 300 cases a month, the time savings achieved through bi-directional integration of Casetabs and HST is massive.
Q: Why is bi-directional integration relevant to ASCs?
GF: I view every surgery as a complex project with multiple team members that need to share information and work together effectively to achieve a positive outcome. That perspective was the driving force in creating Casetabs. Casetabs connects team members and helps get everyone on the same page, which is especially important for the people who are not at the center every day, including surgeons, anesthesiologists, practice staff and implant vendors. As these people propose new cases and share updates, bi-directional integration is critical. Regardless of which system case team members are looking [at], they need to view the same information at all times, and this is what bi-directional integration allows.
Interested in participating in future Q&As? Email Angie Stewart: astewart@beckershealthcare.com.