Delivering ROI. The Case for an Output Management Solution for Hospitals

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1 Delivering ROI The Case for an Output Management Solution for Hospitals

2 The Case for an Output Management Solution for Hospitals Hospitals nationwide are facing financial pressures to improve efficiencies and cut costs while simultaneously improving quality of services provided to patients and improving patient satisfaction. One area where many hospitals have seen an immediate benefit is in modernizing patient registration and other paper form heavy processes. Anyone who has been to a medical facility can attest that they are usually given too many forms that are not always applicable to their situation. These excess paper forms are not just present in the registration process, but also throughout the nursing units, causing bottlenecks for staff in locating correct forms and excess expenditures for the cost of printing and storing forms. Hobson & Company, a leading research firm focused on Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) and Return on Investment (ROI) studies, worked with FormFast, the healthcare industry s leader in electronic form, workflow and electronic signature solutions, to explore these challenges and learn how industry leaders are responding. Hobson & Co. conducted independent research consisting of 10 in-depth interviews with FormFast clients and found that a validated Output Management solution [FormFast] addressed specific customer challenges across hospitals to deliver a quick and compelling ROI (Return on Investment). FormFast s Output Management solution automates the production of packets of hospital forms, wristbands, labels, financial documents and checks. In the registration process, FormFast allows for patient information to be imprinted onto wristbands and groups of eforms, and automatically routed to the correct printer(s). The goal of this research study and paper is to highlight examples of validated use cases where the impact of FormFast s Output Management Solution is not only strategic, but measurable based on key metrics confirmed by current users. Output Management Challenges Clients interviewed for this study noted that there are consistent cost and productivity challenges throughout the hospital when working with registration and patient forms. Below is a list of some of the most universal concerns. Workflow Inefficiencies Customers reported that patient registration, across all areas and units of a hospital, is often unnecessarily complicated and time consuming as registration representatives need to ensure that the correct forms are given to each patient, restock old forms and print forms on an as needed basis. Additional time is then needed to scan all completed registration forms into the correct patient s medical record. The nursing units face similar workflow challenges when needing to locate and print patientspecific forms. Cost Excesses The cost of purchasing and storing registration and patient forms can quickly add up, especially when excess inventory must be stored at an outside printing company or in a storage unit. Many hospitals typically work with internal and external printing shops to order forms in advance and may have between 5,000-10,000 forms in their library. These forms can quickly become outdated, resulting in the need to reorder and distribute new forms. 2

3 Client research identified the benefits of FormFast across two broad business objectives: Increase Operational Efficiencies Reduce patient registration time For hospitals, managing patient registration time is an essential but constant challenge due to the extraneous number of forms that are printed and stored regardless of the specific patient s needs. FormFast enables patient access managers to accelerate the admissions workflow by automatically selecting, grouping and printing the right registration forms from the hospital s library of electronic forms. The clients interviewed for this study pointed out how FormFast knows which forms to choose by analyzing the patient s information and running it against predefined selection criteria which dramatically reduced the time for patient registration. It only takes two clicks of the mouse for all the correct registration forms to be selected. - Systems Analyst 25% REDUCTION in patient registration time Reduce time to scan registration forms into EHR Scanning registration forms is often a time consuming process, as you must ensure each form is scanned correctly and assigned to the correct patient s health record. With FormFast, patient-specific barcodes are produced on the registration forms as needed. During scanning and archiving, the registration forms are automatically indexed as the barcodes streamline this process and can be batch scanned. 25% REDUCTION in scanning time With FormFast, the scanning is much quicker and Medical Records can be sure that the patient registration is uploaded to the correct patient file each time because of the barcodes. - Systems Analyst Improve nursing efficiencies Nursing units are regularly required to print, locate and restock patient forms, often affecting the quality of care for waiting patients. Clients interviewed mentioned that nurses must often walk to centrally located filing cabinets to find the necessary patient forms, taking time away from time spent with patient. With FormFast, nurses and administrators can automatically select and print the needed patient forms from the hospital s library of electronic forms at the patient s bedside giving them back time to focus on patientcentric activities. 10 min/day IMRPOVED nursing staff efficiency The nursing staff had to go to a mailbox-like bin to find the correct forms. Now, they can pull up the patient s chart using FormFast and access the necessary forms immediately and print them out automatically. -Systems Analyst 3

4 Reduce Costs Reduce the time to build and deploy a patient form Hospitals create and deploy hundreds of new patient forms every year and they often work with an outside printing company to create them. This process can take hours before a new form is designed and then deployed throughout the hospital. When new regulations or policies are implemented, forms throughout the entire hospital must be updated quickly. There was a concern among clients interviewed about out-of-date forms being used which can lead to problems with patient safety or compliance. With FormFast, they can leverage the solution s form design capabilities to quickly convert existing paper documents into feature-rich, electronic forms in just a few steps and then deploy immediately. When a document isn t available, FormFast users can quickly, and with little training, easily create an electronic form from scratch. The big benefit of creating forms is that we can make one change to a form and it can get pushed to all users immediately. - Systems Analyst 50% REDUCTION in time to build and deploy a patient form Reduce cost of patient forms Pre-printed patient forms, whether for registration or patients throughout the hospital, are expensive to purchase and store. Clients interviewed mentioned that printing shops often add in an extra fee to store forms while they are not needed. The cost of toner, in-house printers, copiers and paper all add up as well. With FormFast, forms are printed dynamically based on patient demographics and on an as-needed basis. 25% REDUCTION in cost of patient forms We reduced by 90% the cost of printing, typesetting and storing nursing forms. We no longer need to store 6 months worth of patient files in an offsite storage facility. -Clinical Data Analyst 4

5 Strategic Benefits FormFast s Output Management Solution has been tied directly to the delivery of valuable and strategic benefits at a number of healthcare organizations. Output Management aids in the establishment of a successful forms management strategy that supports an organization s overarching initiatives and goals. Increase Operational Efficiencies Hospitals appreciate the productivity gains associated with FormFast s Output Management Solution. Output Management also plays an important role in patient safety and compliance initiatives as data collected in the HIS is used by the FormFast system to imprint the forms with patient demographics, ensuring positive patient identification. Reduce Costs By eliminating pre-printed forms with FormFast, hospital employees spend less time and resources managing paper documents. The cost reduction from replacing pre-printed forms is often significant, as hospitals can save up to thousands of dollars per year. Conclusion From our findings in this study, it is clear that with FormFast s Output Management solution, more focus can be placed on patient care at point-of-service, rather than having to dedicate resources, money and time to manually selecting, organizing, storing and labeling stacks of forms. This in turn, enhances productivity, streamlines processes and directly impacts an organization s bottom-line. 5

6 About FormFast FormFast s enterprise software platform automates documents and workflow, capturing data and streamlining processes. With more than 20 years exclusively focused on healthcare needs and over 1000 healthcare clients, FormFast is considered the industry leader in electronic forms solutions. By using FormFast, hospitals achieve new levels of operational efficiency and productivity, allowing them to concentrate on their core mission delivering quality care. About Hobson & Company Hobson & Company helps technology vendors and purchasers uncover, quantify and validate the key sources of value driving the adoption of new and emerging technologies. Our focus on robust validation has helped many technology purchasers more objectively evaluate the underlying business case of a new technology, while better understanding which vendors best deliver against the key value drivers. Our well researched, yet easy-to-use ROI and TCO tools have also helped many technology companies better position and justify their unique value proposition. For more information, please visit Disclaimer: The Return-on-Investment (ROI) and other financial calculations outlined in this paper are based on data provided by FormFast customers, and various assumptions, and produce estimates only. The actual ROI realized by customers may vary from the estimates provided. FormFast offers this paper to assist customers with evaluating output management solutions; however, FormFast and Hobson & Company (the firm that authored the paper) are not responsible for the accuracy of any estimates. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or any retrieval system, without the written permission of the copyright holder. Hobson & Company, All rights reserved. All other marks are the property of their respective owners.