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The challenge of overseeing an EMR system

Patient Access Weekly Advisor, December 10, 2008

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Editor’s note: The following is part of an ongoing Patient Access Weekly Advisor series on successful patient access departments. This is a continuation from last week’s submission from Tanja Twist.

Tanja Twist, director, patient financial services, Methodist Hospital, Arcadia, CA:

2008 has been a very busy year for my admitting department, and it isn’t over yet. A few of our major accomplishments are as follows:

• EMR system. The second quarter began by going live with a new EMR system, launching initially in the admitting and business office, then in medical records four months later. This was a big change for my front- and back-end staff. We had to learn to “let go of the paper,” which was not an easy thing to do. In admitting this meant scanning registration documents instead of copying them, and staff no longer needed to create a patient financial folder. This also required significant changes to the workflow. We have been up with the system now for about six months and are very pleased with the results.
• Better patient flow in ED. We also implemented a clinical documentation system, which my ED staff members have been able to use to help with patient flow in and out of the ED.

Things we are looking forward to in (late) 2008 and 2009 include:

• Implementation of an online registration process for our guests
• Enhancing our ability to identify alternative payment programs and/or facilitate financial assistance for our uninsured population while they are still in-house. We are looking to partner with a vendor to accomplish this more efficiently.

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