Healthcare IT News - September 2008 - (Page 20) 20 Healthcare IT News September 2008 ■ hoSpItalS & IdNs www.HealthcareITNews.com cy of their clinical documentation, and the RAC findings confirm this issue,” said Arvind Subramanian, president of Wolters Kluwer Health Clinical Solutions.” Many times the documentation is not sufficient to generate appropriate codes.” ■ More at HealthcareITNews.com e Connect: MeDICare 0908 Health system uses virtual call center – Carolinas HealthCare System, the largest healthcare system in the Carolinas, has implemented a virtual contact center that has helped to boost patient satisfaction throughout its system. Carolinas HealthCare System deployed a voice over Internet Protocol, or VoIP, solution from Toronto-based Nortel. The new system was implemented over CHARLOTTE, NC an existing, non-Nortel data network to support six hospitals and 50 doctors’ offices and other medical facilities throughout the Carolinas Physicians Network, which is part of the Carolinas HealthCare System. Nortel’s system includes a virtual contact center with intelligent, skills-based routing. More at HealthcareITNews.com e Connect: CaroLINaS 0908 MeDICare Continued from page 14 eINsTeIN Continued from page 1 l most likely (47 percent) to install new software, compared to 16 percent of those at small hospitals and 35 percent of those at large hospitals. Only 18 percent of the HIM directors taking steps to improve Medicare claims accuracy reported their facility has hired additional coders. “Hospitals face enormous challenges with the quality and accura- l How is your organization preparing for the raC program? email senior editor Diana Manos at diana.manos@medtechpublishing.com. Integrated Document Workflow Streamline Health document management solutions integrate across the enterprise to ensure access to all patient information and improve clinical and operational efficiencies. WOR KFLOW Join Streamline Health in booth 2121 at AHIMA 2008 in Seattle. Visit www.streamlinehealth.net/ ahima.shtml to enter. Win a Wii™ 12 GB of data accessible at the bedside in all of the health system’s emergency departments. A real-time infrared tracking system – which will soon go to ultrasound – first installed in the emergency department is now network wide. It has helped reduce bottlenecks that typically occur in the ED while patients admitted to the hospital wait for an available bed. The tracking system called Amelior ED, from Patient Care Technology Systems in Mission Viejo, Calif., helped the emergency department improve patient flow, operating performance, clinical efficiency and patient safety. Today, the tracking system matches the waiting patient to the available bed. Instead of back-andforth phone calls, the ED relies on bed-board matches. “We don’t make phone calls anymore,” Villarin said. “When you add clicks or add phone calls, you’re losing valuable time. One thing that is not a waste of time, though, in Villarin’s view is adding quality measures. Carl R. Chudnofsky, MD, chairman of the Emergency Department calls the real-time tracking system “a critical that identifies – and helps rectify – bottlenecks that restrict the ED’s ability to provide quality patient care.” “The ED is serving many more, and much sicker patients than ever before,” Chudnofsky said, “but the staff has drastically cut both wait time for admission to the hospital and the hospital’s divert rate – when difficulties securing inpatient beds force the ED to send patients to other hospitals.” Even with a 24 percent increase in ED volume over the past few years, the ED has been able to continue the downward trend on wait time, Villarin said. The Amelior ED technology has made it possible for the department to collect 30 live-time elements for every patient all passively. No time spent gathering. “You have a lot of information at your fingertips,” said Jeannette Trotman, a nurse and co-director of emergency services. “It really helps with flow and overall management.” The Albert Einstein emergency departments have been collecting the data over five years, Villarin said. Now clinicians can gauge how long it takes for an EKG, for instance. Clinicians receive diagnostic feedback live at the bedside. Next month, the Albert Einstein Medical Center will begin electronic health record rollout, integrating the ED data with the patient record, Villarin said. The executives at Albert Einstein recognize the worth. “What we’ve shown them is that data is everything, “ Villarin said. ■ More at HealthcareITNews.com e Connect: eINSteIN 0908 DO CUM E N T IN TE GR ATE D l e l Connect: StreaMLINe 0908 http://www.HealthcareITNews.com http://HealthcareITNews.com http://www.healthcareitnews.com/story.cms?id=9885 http://HealthcareITNews.com http://www.healthcareitnews.com/story.cms?id=9891 http://www.streamlinehealth.net/ahima.shtml http://www.streamlinehealth.net/ahima.shtml http://www.streamlinehealth.net/ahima.shtml http://HealthcareITNews.com http://www.healthcareitnews.com/story.cms?id=9864 http://www.healthcareitnews.com/eConnect.cms?id=9943
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