In a Dec. 1 webinar titled "Electronic Health Records: Understanding the Opportunities for Your ASC," Todd Logan, MBA, regional vice president of sales, SourceMedical; Kathy Witham, RN, BSN, clinical co-director, The Surgery Center at Pellham in Greer, S.C.; and Bill Hazen, administrator, RN, CHT, The Surgery Center at Pellham, discussed the benefits achieved after implementing electronic health records.
Mr. Logan opened the session by recapping the first installment of the series that explained how using EHRs to capture cost data at point-of-care can ASCs save money by providing information on the use of resources and by educating nurses and physicians.
The Surgery Center at Pellham began working on implementing an EHR last December when Ms. Witham traveled to Connecticut to work with SourceMedical. The center fully implemented the system this past July and has seen the benefit in its monthly budget already. Mr. Hazen estimates the center will recoup the initial investment after one year of use. Mr. Hazen and Ms. Witham discussed five points on implementing an EHR system:
1. Involve staff in the process. Ms. Witham appointed staff from each department to be in charge of implementation. This not only increased the positive attitude toward the project, but allowed physicians and staff to have direct input into the creation of the system, including page design and specialty chart packs for specific departments. These packs include the same paperwork and forms as the paper charts and are unique to each specialty.
Staff and physicians were generally receptive to the idea because the center operates on a profit-sharing and bonus model, so both physicians and staff understand anything that saves the center money means more for their bonuses or profits.
2. Make the transition easy for physicians and staff. The Center at Pellham uses SourceMedical's Vision EHR, and one of the things that made the transition easy was that the system looks very similar to the paper records physicians and staff were already accustomed to using.
"Some physicians don't like computers," Mr. Hazen said. "They weren't excited about the EHR. By looking like the paper forms, most of them have come and said, 'This is great.'"
The easier the transition, the more likely physicians and staff are to embrace the new technology, he said. Some physicians have even commented that the transition at Pellham was much easier and simpler than EHR implementation at the hospitals.
3. Include all specialties, even anesthesia. Mr. Hazen said the center decided to go "all or nothing" when it came to implementation. If a specialty such as anesthesia is left out, it begins to spread "like a cancer or a drug" and all of the other physicians begin to ask why they have to use electronic records. Implementation began with a 30-day test period with the endoscopy team so the issues could be ironed out before the system went live, Ms. Witham said.
4. Determine whether your staff prefers tablets or desktops. Mr. Hazen admitted that they didn't do a great job on this and ordered tablets before consulting with staff. What they figured out was that many preferred to use their desktops rather than a tablet because the screen is bigger and they were more comfortable with the software on their desktop.
"I would really talk to your staff when they're going through the testing to see both ways," he said. "You can cut down on your capital costs that way because tablets are not cheap."
However, Ms. Witham pointed out, any time a patient needs to sign a document, such as a consent form, a tablet will have to be used. She said staff at the front desk and in the pre-op and recovery departments all use tablets because those areas require patient signatures.
In order to ensure the tablets are kept safe and secure, staff members were assigned their own tablets. This also allows them to change the settings so they are most comfortable.
5. Consider tablet weight, screen size and battery life. Mr. Hazen said the Pellham center chose Toughbook tablets because they are more durable — a good choice, since "one has already been dropped." Some things to consider when choosing tablets are weight, screen size and battery life. The weight aspect is huge, he said.
"When you're rushing around all day, you'll be surprised how heavy the tablets are," he said.
He recommends physically testing the tablets for weight with staff and physicians. Although smaller tablets are lighter, the screen size also decreases. For this reason, the iPad is not generally a good idea, because when a regular-sized medical form is reduced to the size of the screen, it can be hard to see and edit.
Battery life is also critical. He said all of the tablets the center tested were lucky to get four hours of battery. For that reason, the center purchased extra batteries for each tablet and staff members swap them out during the day.
Download the recording (wmv) of the webinar by clicking here.
Download the presentation (pdf) by clicking here.
Learn more about SourceMedical.
More Articles Featuring SourceMedical:
Key Health IT Issues for ASCs
Should ASCs Outsource Billing and Collections or Keep it In-House?
FAQs About Outsourcing ASC Billing & Collections: Q&A With Caryl Serbin of SourceMedical
Mr. Logan opened the session by recapping the first installment of the series that explained how using EHRs to capture cost data at point-of-care can ASCs save money by providing information on the use of resources and by educating nurses and physicians.
The Surgery Center at Pellham began working on implementing an EHR last December when Ms. Witham traveled to Connecticut to work with SourceMedical. The center fully implemented the system this past July and has seen the benefit in its monthly budget already. Mr. Hazen estimates the center will recoup the initial investment after one year of use. Mr. Hazen and Ms. Witham discussed five points on implementing an EHR system:
1. Involve staff in the process. Ms. Witham appointed staff from each department to be in charge of implementation. This not only increased the positive attitude toward the project, but allowed physicians and staff to have direct input into the creation of the system, including page design and specialty chart packs for specific departments. These packs include the same paperwork and forms as the paper charts and are unique to each specialty.
Staff and physicians were generally receptive to the idea because the center operates on a profit-sharing and bonus model, so both physicians and staff understand anything that saves the center money means more for their bonuses or profits.
2. Make the transition easy for physicians and staff. The Center at Pellham uses SourceMedical's Vision EHR, and one of the things that made the transition easy was that the system looks very similar to the paper records physicians and staff were already accustomed to using.
"Some physicians don't like computers," Mr. Hazen said. "They weren't excited about the EHR. By looking like the paper forms, most of them have come and said, 'This is great.'"
The easier the transition, the more likely physicians and staff are to embrace the new technology, he said. Some physicians have even commented that the transition at Pellham was much easier and simpler than EHR implementation at the hospitals.
3. Include all specialties, even anesthesia. Mr. Hazen said the center decided to go "all or nothing" when it came to implementation. If a specialty such as anesthesia is left out, it begins to spread "like a cancer or a drug" and all of the other physicians begin to ask why they have to use electronic records. Implementation began with a 30-day test period with the endoscopy team so the issues could be ironed out before the system went live, Ms. Witham said.
4. Determine whether your staff prefers tablets or desktops. Mr. Hazen admitted that they didn't do a great job on this and ordered tablets before consulting with staff. What they figured out was that many preferred to use their desktops rather than a tablet because the screen is bigger and they were more comfortable with the software on their desktop.
"I would really talk to your staff when they're going through the testing to see both ways," he said. "You can cut down on your capital costs that way because tablets are not cheap."
However, Ms. Witham pointed out, any time a patient needs to sign a document, such as a consent form, a tablet will have to be used. She said staff at the front desk and in the pre-op and recovery departments all use tablets because those areas require patient signatures.
In order to ensure the tablets are kept safe and secure, staff members were assigned their own tablets. This also allows them to change the settings so they are most comfortable.
5. Consider tablet weight, screen size and battery life. Mr. Hazen said the Pellham center chose Toughbook tablets because they are more durable — a good choice, since "one has already been dropped." Some things to consider when choosing tablets are weight, screen size and battery life. The weight aspect is huge, he said.
"When you're rushing around all day, you'll be surprised how heavy the tablets are," he said.
He recommends physically testing the tablets for weight with staff and physicians. Although smaller tablets are lighter, the screen size also decreases. For this reason, the iPad is not generally a good idea, because when a regular-sized medical form is reduced to the size of the screen, it can be hard to see and edit.
Battery life is also critical. He said all of the tablets the center tested were lucky to get four hours of battery. For that reason, the center purchased extra batteries for each tablet and staff members swap them out during the day.
Download the recording (wmv) of the webinar by clicking here.
Download the presentation (pdf) by clicking here.
Learn more about SourceMedical.
More Articles Featuring SourceMedical:
Key Health IT Issues for ASCs
Should ASCs Outsource Billing and Collections or Keep it In-House?
FAQs About Outsourcing ASC Billing & Collections: Q&A With Caryl Serbin of SourceMedical