Allscripts SCAN
Nevada Medical Clinic is a family practice clinic that has been serving the greater Nevada, Missouri area for over 40 years. Nevada’s team of 10 providers treats approximately 3,500 patients per month in a variety of areas including internal medicine, pediatrics and OB. The well-respected family practice continually strives to provide the highest quality patient care in part by staying abreast the latest methods, equipment and practice management approaches – including the use of an EHR platform for patient health records management and Meaningful Use attestation.
Opportunities
To keep up with some of the recent healthcare changes in the industry, Nevada Medical Clinic implemented an EHR system to manage electronic medical records. The electronic record format opened the door for the practice to recognize there were missed opportunities in their electronic records requests workflows to better use staff time and resources. The practice was spending an average of 8-10 hours per week, split between several staff members, processing medical records requests. Nevada realized the inefficiencies being created by handing records requests in-house but never considered there might be another option until they got their EHR. At the same time, the practice was making a greater push towards meeting Meaningful Use measures, and sought ways to do so through their EHR platform without increasing staff workloads.
Solutions
Faced with the above challenges, Nevada Medical Clinic researched alternative solutions for handling records requests. It was after a peer recommendation for Allscripts SCAN’s electronic release of information (eROI) services that Nevada Medical Clinic chose to outsource their medical records fulfillment. Allscripts SCAN now fulfills all electronic medical records requests for Nevada Medical Clinic and has helped the clinic increase efficiencies, productivity and increase focus on patient care…quantitatively.
Outcomes
Time and Resource Savings Outsourcing records request workflows to Allscripts SCAN has freed up significant full time equivalent (FTE) workload, which has allowed Nevada’s practice to shift staff focus onto patient-related activities. In addition to freeing up 8-10 hours per week by handling records requests through Allscripts SCAN, Nevada has been able to cut overall records handing responsibilities from 6.5 FTE down to 1.5, without changing their headcount. Now they are able to provide a higher level of patient care and service, and have tangibly reduced the stress level in the workplace. What’s more, because the requestor can be billed for fulfillment, Allscripts SCAN’s services are provided at NO COST to Nevada Medical Clinic, lowering bottom line costs and improving the return on investment of using their EHR.
Reduced Staff Training
Outsourcing eROI has significantly reduced the training burden for Nevada Medical Clinic’s staff, because Allscripts SCAN’s team of professionals stay abreast the latest HIPAA regulations and records fulfillment scenarios. Using Allscripts SCAN for eROI means the clinic can reduce the amount of time they used to spend training staff on record request fulfillment and HIPAA breach protocols. Additionally, when a staff member goes on vacation, the clinic doesn’t have to train someone to handle requests, or wait for them to get fulfilled until that person returns. “We had our main records person leave for vacation and our records request fulfillment just, well, kept on going. It was wonderful not to have to cross-train the entire office to cover the absence,” said Sheryl Torres, Business Office Manager at Nevada Medical Clinic.
Increased Responsiveness
HIPAA and state specific guidelines allow providers to take up to 30 days to distribute medical records. Allscripts SCAN has set unprecedented industry standards by aggressively improving workflow efficiencies and utilizing advanced technologies in order to provide a service level agreement to distribute medical records every 24 hours. Allscripts SCAN processes Nevada Medical Clinic’s records requests daily, which has increased patient satisfaction because they get their records faster. “I love that we don’t have to worry about records requests. Requests are entered through the EHR and we KNOW they’re going to be done correctly. Allscripts SCAN goes in and does their job to fulfill the requests…it just happens,” said Torres. Allscripts SCAN’s rapid response also cuts down on the number of incoming calls for status updates and duplicate requests, allowing Nevada’s staff to maintain focus and stay more productive on their tasks at hand.
Seamless Implementation within the EHR
Allscripts SCAN works with nearly all EHR systems to make the implementation process as smooth as possible. “Allscripts SCAN had a good working knowledge of our Allscripts EHR system. We walked them through the process of how we scanned in records to the EHR and we were up and running in a couple of days,” said Torres. In September 2010, Nevada Medical Clinic switched to a new EHR platform, and Allscripts SCAN again worked with the client for a seamless transition. Torres explained, “When we made the switch to a new EHR vendor, Allscripts SCAN worked directly with the team at Allscripts for implementation. They exceeded our expectations and made it very easy on our end.”
Meet Meaningful Use
When choosing their EHR systems, Nevada Medical Clinic looked for products that had the ability to meet Meaningful Use measures. This was no exception when they looked for an outsourced eROI solution provider. Torres explained, “Allscripts SCAN is a key part to our meeting Measure 12. They are very timely in getting records out so we can meet the measure requirements. With Allscripts SCAN everything just happens seamlessly.”