Embrace Mobility, Improve Patient Care

I frequently hear that managing all of the pagers, smartphones, tablets, Wi-Fi phones, and other devices that staff carry is a challenge in healthcare. I am excited that one of our customers is not just managing it, but is embracing the task and will be talking about it in an upcoming webinar. YoLanda Jones Spears from LifeBridge Health will discuss about how they mobilize their trauma team, coordinate critical codes and emergency response, and send key messages to the right people at the right time on their mobile devices. I’m looking forward to hearing their story, and I hope you will join us!

Useful Technology for Meaningful Change

At HIMSS in New Orleans earlier this month, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) and Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT (ONC) hinted at pushing health information technology as a foundation for healthcare system payment and delivery reform. 

Critical test results management (CTRM) probably isn’t the first thing you thought of, or even the third, especially since the focus of the CMS and ONC is primarily on meaningful use and Electronic Health Record (EHR) adoption. However, a CTRM system can truly make an impact in hospital labs everywhere when it comes to care delivery. This technology can help you: 

• Improve patient outcomes with fast notification of critical results 
• Decrease length of stay (and increase patient satisfaction) with fast notification of negative results 
• Improve documentation in the Laboratory Information System (LIS) 
• Prevent wasted time and unusable specimens due to insufficient test instructions 
• Save thousands of dollars in unbillable procedures because necessary information is missing from the LIS 

Saving money while simultaneously increasing efficiency is the epitome of positive change. What are some other, non-EHR related information technologies you can think of that have the potential to improve healthcare delivery?

What’s in Your Texting Solution?

Over the past few years, the explosion of smartphone and tablet use in healthcare has been accompanied by the fear of electronic personal health information (ePHI) vulnerability and potential HIPAA violations. The engine of capitalism has produced a multitude of encrypted texting options for healthcare to address the security risk, but not all solutions are created equal. Beyond simply encrypting messages, what about other important features? 

1. Can physicians and others access on-call directories to quickly locate the right person or role? 
2. Can staff text back and forth to any device in the directory (two-way pagers, WiFi phones, etc.)? 
3. Are there message delivery confirmations to close the communications loop?
4. Is there a full message log to support audits and provide proof in case of litigation? 
5. Can you remotely wipe messages from a lost/stolen device? 
6. Is the solution intuitive so users will be eager to adopt it? 

Providers strive to treat the whole patient, not just a symptom. Similarly, my team and I strive to give providers more than a plain bandage to treat their ePHI security. We treat the whole communication picture. 

If you are interested in a secure, HIPAA-compliant texting solution, or other treatment options, you can chat with one of our business solution advisors for more information!

The Cause for Alarm (Management)

The ECRI Institute published their annual list of top 10 technology recommendations for healthcare executives to keep an eye on. This year alarm integration ranks number three. 

The Joint Commission is also considering adding a new National Patient Safety Goal (NPSG) in 2014—alarm management. 

This increased focus on alarms from systems like ventilators, heart monitors, nurse call and more shouldn’t be a cause for alarm, however. Managing alerts and notifications can be greatly simplified with software to integrate input from multiple systems, prioritize what gets sent to whom, how, and when. Even better, should an alarm management NPSG come to pass, the same technology that processes the alarms and alerts should also be able provide a full audit trail to show who received alerts and when if the Joint Commission makes a visit! 

What solutions are being used at your facility to help address alarm management and prevent alarm fatigue?

Are Your Customers Satisfied?

I usually hear hospitals and healthcare providers talk about serving their patients, but occasionally I also hear the word customer. This distinction is an important one.

We are all patients at one time or another, but when we have choices about where to take our business, we are also customers. And how do businesses compete for customers? Quality, of course, and often price. But perhaps the best differentiator available to hospitals is customer service.

Certainly this includes a caller’s experience when he or she phones your contact center looking for information. But what about once that person has become a patient or observes your communications as a visitor? How long does it take for your staff to respond to a call light or nurse call request? How fast are test results relayed? Do all of the physicians and other caregivers seem to be up to speed on the important elements of the patient’s case? Details like these can have a big impact on patient satisfaction (and publically reported HCAHPS scores).

We work with many hospitals to find communication solutions that decrease response times and increase customer satisfaction. What about you? What initiatives at your facility are improving satisfaction for your patients, and ultimately, your customers?