The Holy Name Medical Center, located in Teaneck, New Jersey, has always been at the forefront of using technology to enhance its mission of providing compassionate and personalized care to a diverse range of patients.
The Challenge: Buy or Build?
Over 30 years ago, Holy Name developed its own electronic health record (EHR), ahead of the curve in an industry where such systems were not yet prevalent or mandated. However, with the changing times, the organization recognized the need to update and streamline its EHR to improve efficiency. The question was whether to buy an existing system or build a custom one.
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According to Jessica Cox, RN, Director of Product Solutions at Holy Name Medical Center, the organization believed in a balanced approach of both building and buying. However, they didn’t have faith that the off-the-shelf EHRs available would address their specific requirements for a person-centric approach with technology-enabled workflows.
Holy Name is New Jersey’s last remaining independent health system, serving patients from the New York City region through its specialty centers and robust physician network. They needed a system that looked at patients as individuals rather than mere numbers. The challenge was to centralize patient information from multiple physicians and disparate systems within the network.
To address these unique needs, the decision was made to build a new custom EHR.
The Proposal: Enabling Care with Technology
According to Cox, healthcare information technology should enable, not hinder, healthcare providers. The aim was to give clinicians more time to provide personalized care instead of being tied to their computer screens. To achieve this, Holy Name collaborated with Medicomp Systems to incorporate their clinical database, which facilitates intelligent charting and helps physicians quickly find relevant clinical details within their workflows.
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The goal was to go beyond a mere database of findings and create a database with intelligence that links clinical findings and provides a narrative for physicians. The Quippe Clinical Data Engine offered by Medicomp Systems fits this requirement perfectly. It normalizes structured data and analyzes data sets by problem, mirroring the way physicians think. The system is also mapped to various terminologies and code sets, making it compliant with the 21st Century Cures Act.
The integration of Quippe into the in-house EHR aimed to make it clinically intelligent and user-friendly for physicians and nurses.
Meeting the Challenge: Harmony EHR
The primary objective of the project was to create a person-centric EHR. In line with this vision, the staff named the new system Harmony EHR. The goal was to have one centralized record across all care settings for each patient.
The implementation began in May 2021, starting with the Emergency Room (ER). One of the key focuses was to synchronize patient data between Harmony EHR and the 30-year-old legacy system that previously maintained integration with external systems. The implementation process encountered duplicate records, which were then consolidated in Harmony EHR to ensure data accuracy.
Initially, the system was used by registrars and ER clinicians, including physicians, nurses, medical assistants, and technologists. However, the roadmap includes expanding the use of Harmony EHR to all areas of the health system, including enterprise scheduling and registration.
Results: Improving Quality, Throughput, and Revenue Reimbursement
Cox identifies three key areas of success resulting from the implementation of Harmony EHR.
The first area is the improvement in overall quality performance, which is crucial for reporting to regulatory bodies. Holy Name aims to provide improved patient care by reducing the time between identifying critical conditions, such as sepsis or strokes, and initiating treatment. The usability and workflow of the software are expected to play significant roles in achieving this improvement.
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Efficient throughput is another important metric tracked by Holy Name. By highlighting and presenting milestones within a patient’s episode lifecycle, Harmony EHR helps streamline the overall patient flow, from admission to discharge.
The third area of focus is coding, billing, and revenue reimbursement. Harmony EHR’s user-friendly interface allows providers to document required information quickly, enabling faster review and sign-off by nurses and providers. With integrated coding calculators, the coding process is also accelerated, resulting in faster claim submission and reimbursement.
Advice for Others: Collaboration and Innovation
Cox advises healthcare organizations to consider developing their own EHRs if off-the-shelf solutions do not meet their specific needs. Collaboration with colleagues from across the organization is essential in identifying existing challenges and needs.
Leaders must be open to embracing innovative technologies, whether developed internally or in partnership with third-party vendors. The project requires strong support from organizational leaders who are willing to dedicate appropriate resources to ensure success.
Cox also emphasizes the importance of remaining nimble and seeking user feedback throughout the development and implementation process. Continuous optimization of workflows, features, and functions based on user needs is crucial.
In conclusion, Cox advises her peers to remember that slow and steady progress is key to success. In the rapidly evolving world of enterprise software development, continuous learning and engagement with colleagues are vital to creating a patient-centric solution that exceeds user expectations.
With the right focus, dedication, and collaboration, even the most challenging circumstances, such as a worldwide pandemic, can be overcome to deliver a superior EHR that truly meets the needs of healthcare providers and patients alike.
Source: https://t-tees.com
Category: WHO
