ProMed Scanning & Document Management Integrates with Meditech at Alice Peck Day Hospital

 

Alice Peck Day Hospital Document Capture, Imaging, and Management

Technologies Used:

  • ProMed Scanning from BizTech Healthcare Solutions, Inc.
  • ProMed DM (Document Management)
  • Kofax VRS
  • Fujitsu fi-6670 high-speed document scanner
  • Custom integration to Meditech Health Info Mgmt System

As an authorized reseller, BizTech is certified to install, support, and extend every product we represent.

Download the Case Study

Alice Peck Day Memorial Hospital (APD) started as a small cottage hospital back in 1932. Located in Lebanon, NH, it has grown to provide primary care, independent and assisted living, and specialty services from rehabilitative care to neurosurgery. Situated in the Upper Connecticut Valley, it serves several communities in New Hampshire and Vermont.

The Business Challenge

Maintaining and storing paper healthcare records is costly. Folders, labels, shelving, and file cabinets, along with an ever-increasing demand for floor space, represent an on-going investment. In addition to having a decentralized patient chart, the HIM department at APD is not located within the main hospital building. Providing a complete patient record for clinical users in a timely manner and fulfilling patient ROI requests was very labor intensive.

Lea Bruch, Health Information Management (HIM) Director at APD, had extensive experience with document imaging. She was looking for an innovative solution that would ease the management and accessibility of patient records. The solution needed to:

  • Eliminate cost of paper handling, filing and storage
  • Provide immediate and multi-user access to patient records
  • Minimize labor involved with scanning
  • Provide a flexible solution for handling the rollout of form barcoding
  • Support EMR (electronic medical record)  by linking scanned images to the existing Meditech system
  • Provide accurate image duplication with version control as required for the Legal Health Record

 

The Solution

BizTech Healthcare Solutions’ ProMed Scanning and hosted ProMed DM (document management) were selected by the Hospital to interface with their existing Meditech healthcare information system. This allows Meditech ADT data, including patient demographic data, to be directly imported into the system. This greatly simplifies the scanning process. Scanned images are automatically indexed by validating barcodes from the images with the ADT data stored in the ProMed system. Forms without barcodes can be indexed by searching on MRN (medical record number), minimizing manual data entry.

Clinical users have access to scanned images directly from Meditech PCI (patient care inquiry). HIM staff, the Quality Management team, and other approved end users can use the powerful search and retrieval of ProMed DM system. The immediate and efficient access to patient care documents offered by ProMed DM has significantly improved the process of abstracting core measures, handling charge audits and peer review, responding to ROI requests and providing Advance Directives for patient care.

“I know firsthand what it’s like being totally out of space, having to adequately secure records and provide timely access to multiple users for patient care. The cost of storing paper records is not insignificant when you add up the supplies, labor and opportunity cost associated with taking up space that could be put to better revenue-producing uses. With this product, we are able to directly access documents from Meditech without having to re-enter patient identification. From a user, meaningful use, and bottom-line perspective, this product meets our requirements.

—Lea Bruch, HIM Director at APD

ProMed Scanning supports Kofax VRS and Kodak Perfect Page advanced image processing. This software “perfects” the scanned document so scan operators never have to rotate an image, delete blank pages or crop an unusual size image. Any color paper, print or ink can be scanned and viewed. The scan operators can scan an entire chart or multiple charts without worrying about end users seeing upside down images or blank pages.

To automate the indexing process, barcodes were added to the face sheets within Meditech. Each face sheet includes barcodes for MRN, Account# and document type. The face sheet acts as a separator page in the scanning process. The MRN and Account# read from the face sheet are applied to the rest of the document images, until the next face sheet is encountered. As more paper forms are updated with a form-identifying barcode, the entire document capture and indexing process will be totally automated by this scanning solution.

Once the patient charts are scanned, they are stored on the ProMed DM server. Approved users can access images from their PC as needed. The ProMed DM system provides a common scanning and document management platform for the entire organization and integrates with APD’s Active Directory so user administration is minimal.

 

Benefits

Having all patient charts stored online in the ProMed DM system eliminates the filing and storage costs for APD. Authorized users across the Hospital can access patient records immediately. HIM scanning is fast and efficient with minimal effort.  The advanced image processing of ProMed Scanning and the ability to scan in color affords HIM management a high level of confidence that all images meet legal requirements.  Patient care and end-user satisfaction are improved due to immediate, online access.  Since the ProMed DM system is hosted by BizTech, hospital IS resources and expenses are minimized while future deployments such as Patient Registration are simplified.

 

Learn more about ProMed Document Management