Workflow

The health system has embraced change management to encourage key clinical buy-in for incorporating social determinant data into the EHR and informing care plans.

The health system estimates referral volume grew 16.5% last year, adding 3,308 more patients than the previous year.

Caregivers with the clinical communications vendor’s Smartbadge can say “Hey, Vocera,” to initiate calls, voice messages, responses to events and alerts, or broadcasts to care teams or rapid response teams.

Now generally available, the EHR-linked new Dragon Ambient eXperience applies AI to help capture and contextualize physicians' conversations with their patients.

The technology has improved the workflows of physicians and CDI specialists alike, and increased reimbursement thanks to efficiency gains in several key metrics.

Its Strategy on Reducing Regulatory and Administrative Burden Relating to the Use of Health IT and EHRs aims to make changes that allow providers to focus on patients.

Adventist Health White Memorial overhauls operating room processes with real-time location system and RFID tags, trimming costs and improving patient satisfaction.

The ultimate goals are to avoid penalties for non-compliance with state regulations; improve provider satisfaction, loyalty and recruitment measures; and increase patient satisfaction measures.

Update: HIMSS20 has been canceled due to the coronavirus. Read more here. As part of the merger of five independent orthopedic practices to form Virginia’s largest provider of orthopedic and therapy care, OrthoVirginia, a large investment was made implementing a new electronic health record system. A survey gauging physician satisfaction with the system, however, showed an overall poor experience, which led the CIO and CMIO to work together to implement and show measurable improvements across a range of areas, including more efficient usage of the technology. Among the most important decision made was to use provider satisfaction measurement tools, to better understand the most impactful EHR related elements that drive provider satisfaction. A structured onboarding process, including an explanation of the organization’s culture, also helps sets expectations for what will be required of the provider to achieve EHR mastery. "The lack of a clear articulation to the providers about what the EHR can be is a significant and ubiquitous problem," said Dr. Harry C Eschenroeder Jr., CMIO of OrthoVirginia, who is scheduled to address the topic March 12 at HIMSS20 with co-presenter and OrthoVirginia CIO Terri Ripley. He explained there is confusion about what parts of the workflows are driven by compliance requirements and what parts of the EHR can be helpful. "Workflows driven by compliance often frustrate providers and may add little value to patient care," he cautioned. "A well designed EHR can orient the physician to the patient’s situation, teach the patient what is wrong with them, and what they must do to get better." He further noted it can also facilitate communication and coordination of care amongst the providers trying to help the patient. "Providers must understand that they bear a responsibility to master and improve their imperfect EHR for the benefit of their patients," he said. "They need to experience some wins in making their EHR better." Eschenroeder said some methodologies that can be used to successfully implement a continuous education program for physicians include offering “at the elbow” provider education and provider problem resolution based on a personal relationship between the provider and a provider support specialist. "In addition, EHR educational presentations at department meetings can help providers to understand that the EHR is not a dead tool, it is evolving, and their input is critical," he said. Additional methodologies could involve peer to peer teaching and support interactions in provider meetings, and teaching themes for the provider support specialists, so that rounding is more than answering complaints and solving problems. Eschenroeder and his OrthoVirginia colleague Terri Ripley will share their insights during their HIMSS20 session, “Physician Satisfaction with EHR: Is it Possible to Improve?” It's scheduled for Thursday, March 12, from 2:30-3:30 p.m. in room W206A.

Four experts in diagnostic imaging IT offer CIOs, CMOs and other leaders some best practices for making a complex technology work best for their own healthcare organizations.