If your hospital is like most, your IT department is busy. If you were to take the elevator down to the basement and ask your IT Director to schedule a project, you probably would not get a commitment for resources until Q2 of 2013.

Admissions system (ADT) upgrade, standardization of clinic operations, implementation of a new financial system…their projects calendar is, and always will be, full.  What answer did you receive the last time you made a request to the IT department?  An immediate no?

As a vendor, we are constantly on the road meeting with hospitals. Our engagements are typically with Patient Access Managers, CFOs and CEOs – and each time the IT constraint issue comes up.  Making self-services available to patients makes sense, but the unavailability of IT resources is the first objection to be raised (well that and privacy, but I will address the issue of web forms and kiosks vs Post-it notes and fax machines in a separate post).

Disney recently announced a healthcare service program to help hospitals better prepare for the Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (HCAHPS).

Patient satisfaction has become more important than ever, as it is now directly tied to reimbursement.  The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services requires hospitals to report patient satisfaction of (HCAHPS) results.

In light of this growing priority, Disney has introduced its new program, that incorporates the five most powerful Disney philosophies – leadership excellence, people management, quality service, brand loyalty and creativity/innovation – to help healthcare organizations exceed the expectations of patients.

“Our program helps hospitals and healthcare organizations focus more on the overall patient experience, rather than just clinical outcomes” says Disney Institute consultant Patrick Jordan, a former healthcare executive. “This is incredibly important for building a culture of excellence.“

Results to date have been positive.  For example, Fierce Healthcare reports that:

“Florida Hospital for Children has seen patient satisfaction scores increase after their time with Disney Institute. After measuring patient and family satisfaction scores two years in a row, administrators were shocked to find their facility ranked in the bottom ten percent of hospitals nationwide.

FHC began embracing change through Disney Institute seminars, site visits and subsequent training sessions at the hospital. As a result, Press Ganey patient/family satisfaction scores jumped from the bottom 10 percent in the nation to the top 10 percent, employee morale soared, employee retention rates improved and the hospital’s pediatric emergency room is now ranked top in the nation.”

So beyond Disney’s ability to capture the imagination (and wallets) of millions with their theme parks, what other industries should hospitals look to for ideas?

How about the airline industry?  I know, I know, we all have nightmare stories from the airline industry…but hear me out.

The last time that I took a flight, I registered online and added my preferences.  The airline provided some valuable instructions and offered the option to pick my own seat.  Once I arrived at the airport, I checked-in at a kiosk, got my boarding pass, and made my way to security.  From a customer perspective, the experience was convenient because it saved time and gave me more control over my flying experience (I got a window seat!).

From the airline’s perspective, they captured more complete and accurate data from me before I left home.  In addition, as soon as I checked-in from a kiosk it updated their system automatically and I was told exactly where to go next.  By having even a small number of customers using the self-service option it significantly reduces line-ups and streamlines the flow of travelers from the front door of the airport to the correct seats in the plane.

Hospitals using self-service technology are seeing measurable benefits and improved patient and staff satisfaction within months of implementation. Southlake Regional Health Centre, a 365 bed hospital, is already getting a 78% uptake by patients who have a scheduled appointment.  As a result of the high adoption rate from patients, they achieved in the first year:
-$400,000 operational savings;
-30% reduction in registration staff (redistributed 10 FTEs to other functions within the hospital);
-50% reduction in registration data errors.

Kemptville District Hospital, a small 30 bed rural hospital, has been piloting the same model for three months with day surgery, and they are already forecasting a potential $100,000 in savings.

Specialty clinics such as the Stronach Regional Cancer Centre are also looking to self-service options to enhance the patient experience.  In this case, cancer patients enter a record of their symptoms at the same time as they check-in at a kiosk for their scheduled appointment.

In closing, if Disney can help hospitals to skyrocket their satisfaction scores, and the airline model can help streamline the flow of patients, what other lessons are out there that could benefit our hospitals?  We would love your thoughts.

Roseanne Pegler, Executive Lead of the Regional Cancer Program Central LHIN, and Jay Lawrence, PatientWay CEO, will team-up to deliver a session at the upcoming IT Healthcare Canada Conference in Toronto this October.

Streamlining Cancer Centre Patient Registration and Symptom Management with an Automated and Patient-Centred Model will highlight how The Stronach Regional Cancer Centre and PatientWay are leading a successful project to streamline repeat visit check-ins for patients thanks to kiosk technology.

In an effort to improve the overall patient experience, the Stronach Regional Cancer Centre in Newmarket, Ontario, became the first Cancer Centre in the province to introduce an integrated symptom and registration kiosk for patients receiving cancer treatment.

The PatientWay Kiosk enables the Cancer Centre’s patients to enter a record of their symptoms at the same time as they register for their scheduled appointment. While patient registration and check-in kiosks have been widely used in other facilities for a number of years, the Stronach Regional Cancer Centre is the first to offer integrated check-in and symptom assessment apps.

The two organizations also engaged Cancer Care Ontario and Elekta to create a unique three-way integration between the hospital’s ADT, CCO’s ISAAC system and MosaiQ. Now, instead of having to visit two or three points of service, patients have the choice of using any of the five kiosks at the centre. These kiosks update the ADT, send a queuing message MosaiQ, and collect the patient’s ESAS scores from one seamless encounter.

For the full Stronach story, see our blog post from last March.

For all the details on the educational session, check out IT Healthcare Canada’s website.

We hope to see you in Toronto!

Recently Kemptville District Hospital (KDH) hosted executives and patient access managers from nine other Eastern Ontario hospitals, to share their experience and learnings from providing patients with a self-service option for pre-registration and check-ins.

KDH serves an area south of Ottawa that has seen dramatic population growth in recent years. The area is popular with both retirees and commuters from Ottawa and is one of the fastest growing communities in the region. Striving to meet a heavier demand for healthcare services, KDH has enlarged its facilities, including the ER and OR.

Three months ago KDH launched a project with the collaboration of one physician from their OR, to evaluate whether or not online pre-registration and a check-in kiosk could help better streamline patient flow, create administrative efficiencies and improve patient satisfaction (see our blog post from May about the KDH project).  KDH is already forecasting a potential savings of more than $100,000 in the first year alone, and a roll-out to the other nine physicians in the OR is already underway.

In her presentation to the group, Melissa DeDekker (KDH’s Health Records Professional) highlighted several key benefits being realized by her small 30 bed hospital, including:

1. Increased staff satisfaction:
- 10-15 minutes saved per booking when using online pre-registration as oppose to phone calls
- Consents / pre-visit instructions are provided by email which also reduces phone-tagging
- Improved data accuracy

2. Increased patient satisfaction
- Convenience of pre-registering online and self check-in
- Printable list of instructions helps patients be better prepared for surgery

3. A forecasted savings of more than $100,000.  The forecast is based on the current 10-15 minutes saved per booking, with a roll-out to other areas of the hospital (outpatient services, diagnostic imaging, etc) and with an 80% adoption rate from patients.

4. A growing adoption by patients.  In the first month, 20% opted for the self-service option.  That figure grew to 29% the next month.

Melissa DeDekker also shared her team’s approach to the project, notably the planning and work that was done before going live with a web registration form and plugging-in a kiosk.  To ensure that the initiative would become a success, they established clear goals and divided the implementation project into manageable phases, that included:

- Forming a project team, with people from the hospital and PatientWay
- Assessing current processes, and mapping a process redesign (the following graphic prepared by KDH clearly illustrates their new, more efficient process)

- Engage doctor’s offices and volunteers
- Trial mock patients in test environment, follow-up with a survey to gather feedback
- Pilot one surgeon’s OR patients for one month (thank you to Dr. Steven Oliver, from KDH’s orthopaedics clinic)
- Ongoing evaluation and adjustments as needed
- Roll out to other OR’s in phases

The information and insight above was reported by KDH after only three months – which is quite impressive!  We look forward to hearing more from Melissa DeDekker and the KDH team in the months to come.

To see the full KDH presentation, see the slides below.

PatientWay jobs come in all shapes. Whether you’re a creative software developer, an energetic client support expert or a sales professional who always finds a way to reel in the big one – there’s an opportunity at PatientWay for you.

Innovation and entrepreneurship are what PatientWay is all about. Everyone has a say, and out of the box thinking and new ideas are always encouraged. We want everyone on the team to produce the best possible results, so we promise to not lock you inside a small cubical, wearing jeans on a Tuesday is not frowned upon, and a flexible work schedule will be yours to manage.

PatientWay is helping to drive the healthcare IT revolution.  Joining the growing PatientWay team is not just a good career move, it’s your chance to become part of something big.

Take a look at our open positions. If there is nothing currently posted that fits your skill-set, come back to the site often or follow us on Twitter. Or even better, if you think you have the right stuff to join the healthcare IT revolution, take a bold step and contact us directly (OK, it’s not that bold of a step, we are not very scary people to deal with .

Play matchmaker and earn a $1,000

Refer a successful candidate for any of the open jobs, and if we HIRE them, we’ll pay you $1000. To qualify send an email to career-referral@patientway.com about your referral. If we hire your referral we’ll pay you $1,000 after their 3 month probationary period.

At the end of the day we want nothing less than to deliver superb software and service that makes a difference. We are looking for like-minded professionals who are at the top of their game.  If this is you, lets talk!