Introduction – The enterprise value of complete patient records
HMT editor’s note: We will trace the principles described below in action as we follow Hyland projects over the next several months. Over the next few months, we will post online the first of several features describing how Hyland products and services help connect all patient content within the healthcare continuum.
Improving patient care, reducing costs and meeting legislative requirements are top of mind for every healthcare organization. How providers reach these goals can vary, but one thing is certain: The more information available at your fingertips, the better. In order to provide the best care, it’s critical for clinicians to have access to the complete patient record; this includes the patient’s family history, allergies, previous procedures, diagnoses and tests. Clinicians don’t have time to track down paper records or switch between applications to find the right content; they need it to be easily accessible direct from the electronic medical record (EMR).
The ability to find all patient content from within the EMR gives clinicians more face time with patients and less time spent completing clerical tasks and data searches. With nearly 75 percent of the patient record stored outside the EMR, an enterprise content management (ECM) solution capable of centralizing the capture, storage and viewing of clinical content is vital to completing patient records.
With faster access to the content required to complete their daily tasks, staff members can work more efficiently and reduce costs. All departments across the enterprise benefit from streamlined operations, including clinical, billing, financial applications and more. The faster they have the information they need, the more effectively patient care can be provided.
Baptist Memorial Health Care Corporation’s vision and plan for ECM technology
With 14 affiliate hospitals and more than 100 clinics throughout the Mid-South, Baptist Memorial Health Care Corporation (BMHCC) is the largest privately owned hospital system in the country. The award-winning network needed to access unstructured content, such as lab and test results, directly from the Epic interface from any physician practice or hospital.
To provide this access, BMHCC is implementing OnBase by Hyland, an enterprise content management (ECM) solution, to help connect all patient content within the healthcare continuum. OnBase integrates with BMHCC’s Epic EMR to provide the complete patient record within the Epic interface, enabling clinicians to make the best decisions for their patients, save valuable time, eliminate duplicate services and reduce rising operational costs.
After choosing OnBase, BMHCC created a multi-phased timeline to roll out the solution. The first phase of the implementation includes the OnBase and Epic integration. BMHCC has deployed OnBase and Epic at more than 60 of its clinics and three of its Metro Memphis hospitals, providing a smooth transition to the new solution. BMHCC will continue rolling out the solution to all of its hospitals and clinics on a carefully planned schedule. In total, the deployment will take approximately 18 months. Once OnBase and Epic are deployed across the entire system, clinicians will have access to the complete patient record from any BMHCC hospital or clinic.
Phase two of the implementation will include OnBase working with BMHCC on a conversion of multiple legacy systems to provide easy access to historical patient information to all providers from within the Epic EMR. Once the second phase is complete, BMHCC will have access to all patient clinical and financial content at every clinic and hospital, resulting in compliant, more efficient and higher quality care.
