Casa Grande Lays a Solid Foundation for Improved Patient Care and EMR
The vision of a healthcare system with fully electronic medical records (EMR) is compelling. Free from the error-prone, labor-intensive demands of paper, there is an opportunity to significantly reduce errors and improve patient outcomes. That certainly was the appeal for Casa Grande Regional Medical Center (CGRMC), a full-service, community-owned, nonprofit hospital that serves the Casa Grande Valley of Arizona.
A Foundation for Success
The regional medical center had committed to implementing Cerner’s electronic medical system, and realized it would need to standardize patient documentation and move away from its antiquated, blue card embossing system. The illegibility of patient information and the inherent slowness of a manual system represented huge obstacles to patient safety and a successful migration to EMR.
Standard Register’s workflow expertise, responsive project management team and SMARTworks® Clinical Enterprise combined to provide an effective solution for automating documents for EMR while introducing accuracy and productivity to Casa Grande’s processes.
A New Way to Operate
The heart of the SMARTworks solution is the Patient Link-up Enterprise (PLUE). Utilizing data from the Siemens ADT Systems and the patient data collected in Admissions, PLUE automatically creates documents and kits for every Casa Grande patient, based on their insurance carrier, language and other requirements related to their visit.
Documents are printed with the variable patient data, including name, address and other information that is consistently required on forms, thereby increasing the readability of key information and reducing the opportunity for human error. Instead of hand-carrying copies of the forms to the nursing floor or other departments, documents are now automatically routed wherever they are needed and printed on demand. A unique bar code is also incorporated on every document, label and wristband to support bedside scanning applications and track pertinent patient data on each medical record.
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Standard Register's solution is a godsend when dealing with a hospital which relies upon thousands of forms, thousands of lab tubes. |  |
| - Tony Moncayo VP of Ancillary Services |
A New Level of Ease and Control
Used in conjunction with the Forms on Demand library, PLUE makes forms management easy for both new and experienced staff members. Standardized documents are housed in this digital library, enabling users to easily find and select the forms they need while helping to assure compliant documents are in use. The library provides controlled access to forms, restricting use to only those departments and users that require specific forms.
With a large portion of its forms now printed on demand, Casa Grande has significantly reduced its inventories of preprinted forms and the labor associated with printing and managing them. In fact, the medical center was able to free up enough space to add three additional admissions workstations.
Operational in Downtime
Casa Grande also implemented the SMARTworks downtime application which gives their registration areas the ability to produce patient admissions kits -- bar-coded documents, labels and patient wristbands – when network infrastructures are unavailable, using a local PC and printer in the event .They can avoid the errors and delays of handwritten documentation.
Recalling a five-hour intranet outage, Tony Moncayo, the vice president of Casa Grande’s Ancillary Services observed, “The system provided fantastic workarounds which resulted in a seamless transition. The backup system is virtually invisible to the end-user allowing them to remain focused on immediate care, easing the patient’s hospital experience.”
The Path to Better Care
The implementation of SMARTworks® Clinical Enterprise has supported Casa Grande in its mission to provide quality, cost-effective, compassionate healthcare services, delivering these key benefits:
- More legible, accurate patient documentation
- Improved patient safety with bar-coded documents
- Registration time cut in half
- Space freed for three admissions workstations
- EMR-ready documents for Cerner Power Chart
Moreover, SMARTworks® Clinical Enterprise has set the stage for further improvements to the admissions process, giving Casa Grande the option of electronically capturing patient signatures and pictures which would enhance the patient experience and security.
For assistance in assessing your EMR readiness or information about solutions to improve patient safety, contact us now.