The future of patient care. 6 ways workflow automation will transform the healthcare experience

Transcription

1 The future of patient care 6 ways workflow automation will transform the healthcare experience

2 Workflow automation: The foundation for improved patient care The patient lifecycle goes through many phases. And at each phase, your clerks, nurses and physicians must collect an extensive amount of protected healthcare information (PHI). PHI includes everything from your patients personal information like their full names, birth dates and social security numbers down to their insurance policy information, their ailments, diagnosis and treatments. In order to maintain compliance with Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) rules, your facility needs to ensure that all of this information is stored and exchanged securely. If you re still forcing employees to print, copy, scan and send paper documents, you are opening your facility to a significant amount of risk. Even if you have transitioned over to electronic health records (EHR), you may be tied to manual processes, which increase the likelihood of employee errors, non-compliance and PHI getting into the wrong hands. Workflow automation can give your employees the power they need to do their jobs faster and easier at all phases of the patient lifecycle. Additionally, you have the control to maintain compliance, maximize efficiencies and provide exceptional patient care. 2 The future of patient care

3 1 Patient admission The admissions process is riddled with paperwork. Incoming patients need to add their personal information to admission orders. They also need to fill out consent forms, authorization forms, and share their medical histories, referrals and initial prescriptions. Their driver s licenses and insurance ID cards are copied. In most hospitals and healthcare facilities, these documents are routinely copied, scanned, printed, faxed or ed so patient information is quickly stored and shared. However, this extremely sensitive information is routinely left at risk because many facilities don t have proper procedures. For example, documents can be printed and left sitting in an output tray, where an unauthorized party ultimately can take them. Best-in-class document imaging solutions can reduce vulnerabilities in capturing and sharing PHI during the admissions process. Only authorized staff can access specific devices, network applications and resources via password- or smartcard-based authentication. User credentials must be verified at all devices, and only verified users can access approved actions, such as ing, printing and faxing. 3 The future of patient care

4 2 Point of care Many hospitals and healthcare facilities are achieving meaningful use of certified EHR technologies, ultimately helping employees improve clinical decision-making, reduce errors, improve efficiencies and lower costs. Using smart multifunction devices (MFDs), smartphones, tablets and laptops, physicians can review diagnostics and provide status updates at the point of care. However, the technology that enables this improved patient experience also presents significant security vulnerabilities. Hospitals and healthcare facilities must ensure PHI is stored and exchanged securely in order to maintain HIPAA compliance. Accidental exposure of patient information or the intentional compromise of information by malicious parties can bring significant financial and brand-related woes. By adding a layer of automated security and control to electronic and paper-based processes, facilities can minimize manual work and decisions that invite human error, thus mitigating non-compliance risks. Additionally, when information is shared between smart MFDs and mobile devices, the server and EHR are encrypted so documents are only accessible by authorized parties. 4 The future of patient care

5 3 Patient discharge Upon discharge, patients typically receive a package of printouts including a hospitalization summary, diagnoses or results, discharge orders and instructions, referrals for follow-up care and additional prescriptions. This PHI can be accidentally misdirected or intentionally compromised if facilities don t have best-in-class security controls. Without user authentication, audit trails or other security controls, each document and action presents a risk of exposure and a point of vulnerability where PHI can be accidentally misdirected or intentionally compromised. With document workflow and security solutions, healthcare facilities can protect PHI by adding a layer of automated security and authentication to document capture and distribution. Authorized parties can select required documents at the point of discharge. They can unlock an MFD to print forms so the patient can sign them, or they can access a web form from a smartphone or tablet. Healthcare innovator: Boston Children s Hospital Boston Children s Hospital had thousands of paper-based patient records in numerous departments some dating back as far as the mid 1960s. With malpractice lawsuits and questionable care becoming all too common, the hospital sought to improve patient care and ramp up PHI security. The hospital implemented a new infrastructure, developed with Nuance solutions, in order to maximize efficiency, as well as overall time and cost savings. By connecting all departments, and replacing cumbersome paper-based patient files, Boston Children s Hospital created a simpler and more efficient work environment, making both physicians and staff more productive. Learn More 5 The future of patient care

6 4 Referrals There will be cases when a physician in your facility recommends a patient visit a specialist, get another procedure or receive alternative care. When these cases occur, they must seamlessly transmit patient records and all supporting information to the next doctor s office. Manually faxing paper documents, or scanning and digitally transmitting information, takes a lot of time and coordination. Sometimes clerks may even accidently send information for the wrong patient. As a result, the referred office has incorrect information, and a patient s PHI is with an unauthorized party. By automating document workflows, however, you can mitigate risk of the wrong information getting into an outsider s hands. The system simultaneously monitors and audits patient information in documents to ensure PHI is controlled before it gets to an intended destination. Security policies are enforced automatically, so PHI isn t able to leave the hospital unless an authorized party approved the action. 6 The future of patient care

7 5 Pharmacy There are many ways physicians can order prescriptions for patients. They can either call them in, which ultimately takes a lot of time and effort, or they can fax or e-prescribe medication. Regardless of your facility s processes paper-based or digital you need to ensure this information is shared quickly, seamlessly and securely. With the right technology, physicians and nurses can capture treatment information and prescription slips, and securely distribute them to the patient s file and their preferred pharmacy. There s no risk of treatment information being misfiled or prescriptions being faxed to the wrong number. 7 The future of patient care

8 6 Insurance and patient billing After a patient receives treatment and is discharged from your facility, employees need to bill insurance companies and individual patients as needed. If your facility has not transitioned to EHR systems, clerks are forced to manually track down, scan, copy, mail or fax paper-based documents. Finding patient files and going through all of these steps takes a lot of time and adds significantly to your employees workload. Even if your facility has an EHR, there is still no standardization, and information is delivered insecurely to outside parties. When you rely on your employees to handle and share sensitive PHI and don t have the proper safeguards, the margin for error increases significantly. By implementing document workflow automation technology, healthcare facilities will have a complete audit trail for each document. That way, you have complete transparency into who sent a fax, when, the number of pages, from/to which device and even patient ID. You will have a similar, indepth view when employees copy, print, scan and information. Healthcare innovator: Northwood Health Systems A privately held organization, Northwood Health Systems strives to provide quality care for patients of all ages with emotional problems, intellectual disabilities, mental illness, and drug and alcohol addictions. Serving more than 3,000 patients at more than 19 clinical and residential facilities, Northwood sought to improve patient care and streamline operations. But like all healthcare facilities, Northwood faced many challenges, including increased regulatory requirements, an expanding patient load due to the Affordable Care Act, changes to billing and operational processes, and requirements for electronic health record (EHR) technology. Using Nuance solutions, the IT group was able to integrate Northwood s various input sources and provide a unified platform for clinical and business workflows. Learn More 8 The future of patient care

9 About Nuance Document Imaging Nuance Document Imaging provides the software solutions and expertise required by professionals and organizations to gain optimal control of their document output and information capture processes. The comprehensive suite of leading-edge solutions provides the opportunity to reduce the costs of cumbersome workflows and eliminate gaps across the lifecycle of their documents from origin to archiving. Nuance s cross-platform compatibility provides seamless deployment across all MFPs, printers, desktops and mobile devices. With an intuitive user-experience, Nuance delivers more efficient and natural interactions with the technologies used to create, print, scan and process documents securely. Conclusion: Keep PHI secure and give patients peace of mind PHI is exchanged at all stages of the healthcare experience. It is up to your facility to ensure that information is accurate, up-to-date and secure as it travels to different parties. Workflow automation will give you the peace of mind your patients and your organization need. It will mitigate the risk of non-compliance and security breaches, streamline operations and provide your patients with the care that they want and deserve. Learn how Nuance Document Imaging s Healthcare Solutions can help your facility streamline processes, satisfy patients and ramp up PHI security. Start Now Or give us a call at The future of patient care