WILMINGTON, OH – Even as a health system makes a big financial commitment to move to an electronic health records system, it still has to find a way to provide the “look and feel” of paper.
CMH Regional Health System has been able to do just that. About a year ago, the system implemented a variety of clinical information systems from McKesson Corp. at its 95-bed hospital. Its investment in clinical systems will total $18 million over three years.
Even as it did so, officials realized they still had to account for paper records coming into the system and for the forms they had to produce to cope with the legalities of providing care and facilitating workflow. To do that, they implemented forms automation solutions from Optio Healthcare of Alpharetta, Ga.
The Optio application can take data feeds from all clinical systems and put that information on preprinted forms, said Linda Keifer, senior electronic forms and imaging analyst for the healthcare system. Required paper forms can be printed in advance of a patient’s arrival on a floor.
Using the forms-based system has saved about $52,000 over the first eight months. Much of the savings has come from being able to preprint patients’ demographic information on heavy blue paper stock. Optio also automates the process of producing barcodes on patient armbands, Keifer said.
The application has streamlined medical records compilation, including automatic indexing and the cold feeding of forms for storage and retrieval. About a third of the documented savings have come from materials, while two-thirds is related to reducing staff time.
“Cost savings are only going to improve,” Keifer said. “It’s hard to move away from paper. The paper is like a security blanket for a lot of people. That’s one of the challenges when you implement. They still like to have their forms.”
Pairing Optio with the clinical records systems also has accelerated chart completion, reducing chart delinquencies and data errors and improving patient safety, Keifer added.
“By becoming less reliant on paper medical records, we are helping physicians, nurses, pharmacists and other clinicians provide more informed and safer care,” said Tim Crowley, former president and CEO of CMH Regional Health System.