HHS - Case Study
The Paperless Tiger: Bringing Health Records Into The 21st Century
Client ~ A group of five hospitals serving 2.2-million residents in Southwestern Ontario with 1,500 physicians and more than 8,000 professional staff treating 600,000+ patients annually – more than a quarter of the population base.
Problem ~ The group had begun implementing an Electronic Health Records (E.H.R.) solution including a document management system capable of handling 12-million hard copy pages of records annually. At any given time, there were 700,000 active paper charts and 1,500 unique forms being used and filed, requiring four multi-site file rooms and 53 staff members. Moreover, the group had no in-house expertise to manage the paper conversion production process and chose Octacom as its partner.
Opportuntity ~ Outsource non-core health records processes including the production, preparation, scanning, Indexing and quality control processes associated with scanned paper records. This would address major challenges by doing five things:
- Creating a secure, digital repository for archiving patient information.
- Substantially reduce record filing space.
- Allow for remote chart completion and coding from a scanned record.
- Eliminate paper records retrieval and delivery.
- Work with a partner that’s an expert in document conversion with no capital investment.
Deliverables ~ We helped the hospital system bridge the gap between its current record system and going fully digital, a key interim step that enables physicians and health care workers to become comfortable working in an electronic environment.
We were required to convert 40,000 pages of paper patient charts daily within tight turn-around requirements while maintaining a high level of quality output.
Our secondary deliverables included installing hardware and software, redesigning workflow in the records management department, redesigning and standardizing all patient record forms and developing system-to-system feeds for on-line clinical information. We also trained staff and provided best practice models.
Outcome ~ The hospital group has received numerous, major benefits over the six-plus years we’ve been partnering with them on this project.
We deliver all conversions within 24 hours of receiving material from the hospitals:
- ER records are available in six hours
- Same Day Surgery records are available in 12 hours.
- Inpatient records are available within 18-to-24 hours.
As well, health records management has been simplified and made far less costly.
- 72-million patient records have been scanned to date.
- There are nearly 6,000 users on the system, including almost 800 physicians.
- A significant reduction in health record staff was accomplished.
- Some 134 active medical staff complete charts on line from their offices.
- Coders were moved off-site because they don’t have to be where paper is generated, providing space for expanded clinical activity.
- Eliminating paper enabled health records to become a "department without walls."
- Record storage space was reduced substantially.
Our outsourced conversion and retrieval system works so efficiently, human resource files from each of the group’s hospitals also are being converted and stored in a retrieval system provided by Octacom.
Moreover, other hospitals within the LHIN are beginning to convert to our system, including regional Family Health Teams, the Community Care Access Centre (CCAC). A truly paperless tiger is roaring in Southwestern Ontario.