Reference no: EM133992113
Assignment:
The physicians at Aubreyville Regional Hospital were growing increasingly frustrated with the lack of access to the historical handwritten documentation detailing their patients' previous encounters. The facility is a 214-bed hospital and often attracts world-renowned physicians due to its excellent reputation. It is a smaller facility and unfortunately has become somewhat behind in transitioning to emerging technology to improve documentation efforts. Tammy, Aubreyville Regional Hospital's Health Information Management (HIM) Director, was new to her role but was aware of these issues when she accepted her position.
During the monthly leadership council, Dr. Jones expressed his concern over several inefficiencies when attempting to retrieve historical information on his patients. He indicated that he had no issues locating labs, radiology, patient demographics and dictated reports for the current visit as they were housed in the electronic medical record (EMR) utilized at Aubreyville Regional Hospital. These documents were electronically interfaced to the EMR and were available to be quickly referenced. However, Dr. Jones noted such handwritten documents - progress notes, physician orders, and other graphic flowsheets were retrievable only by contacting the HIM department. The HIM department was not staffed 24/7 and this often resulted in delays to obtaining paper documentation. As Dr. Jones was presenting his concern, other physicians began to express their displeasure in this process as well.
Kate, Aubreyville Regional Hospital's Chief Operating Officer (COO) quickly determined that this concern was valid. After listening to the discussion, Kate knew that there needed to be an improved way to connect the handwritten documentation to the electronically interfaced information. Kate met with Tammy to discuss the options for removing this physician satisfaction barrier and potential patient care inhibitor. Tammy informed Kate that the concept of a hybrid record was something that should be considered. In this environment, HIM would perform document imaging processes on the handwritten documentation. This would allow the handwritten information to flow to the patient chart and connect with the existing electronically fed documents.
Document imaging is a process that is widely used throughout HIM departments. This approach helps to bridge the gap between a fully paper-based hospital to one that is fully electronic. Document imaging requires the HIM teams to prep, scan, index, and quality control all handwritten documents that are retrieved upon patient discharge or visit. While it sounds like a very tedious task, the steps naturally replace similar processes in paper based environments. Tammy's team would see their current roles transitioning to meet the new needs of an electronic world.
Tammy and Kate discussed potential vendors and software options. Once the top contenders were chosen, they took the proposed change to various committees in an attempt to obtain physician and other integral leader support. An in-depth financial analysis was also performed to determine the benefits of a hybrid record. The response was overwhelmingly positive. Tammy knew that a final hurdle she needed to overcome was to discuss the change with her staff. Her staff seemed excited yet nervous to take on the document imaging challenge. However, after reviewing all of the pros/cons, most of the HIM staff understood that this was the best route for improving patient care, physician satisfaction, as well as staff productivity. Tammy did notice that four of her key staff members immediately submitted resignation letters upon learning about the upcoming major process change.
Because employee satisfaction and retention are so important, Tammy decided to conduct one-on-one meetings with the newly-created document imaging team members. After further reviewing and ensuring each team member that this change was a positive and much needed improvement, Tammy was able to satisfy each of the staff's concerns. Six weeks later, Tammy reviewed the progress with Kate. Kate was very grateful that Tammy was proactive in addressing the staff's concerns so that HIM employee turnover would remain low.
1.Why do you think Dr. Jones was so passionate about the topic of retrieving historical information on his patients?
2.Tammy encountered a staffing issue when introducing a new concept on processing medical records - why do you think the staff became concerned with this change?
3.Kate, Chief Operating Officer (COO) and Tammy, Health Information Management Director worked together to determine possible options to solve the concerns of the physicians. Why do you think Kate consulted Tammy immediately about this topic?