MMCH Rehabilitation Center chooses Chart Links for niche-specific solution and hospital information system interface capabilities
Margaret Mary Community Hospital (www.mmch.org) in Batesville, Indiana, runs an off-site Outpatient Rehabilitation Center that handles more than 15,000 patient visits annually. The rehab facility employs 21 therapists providing physical, occupational, and speech therapies. Other services include work conditioning, sports medicine, balance, lymphedema, low vision and pediatric therapies. Aquatic therapy is offered at the local YMCA.
The rehab center had been using the hospitalÕs information system for documentation and billing and a manual, paper-based system for scheduling. Although the hospital system allowed some modification to accommodate documentation of the centerÕs special services, rehab center managers began to look for an end-to-end, niche-specific software solution that would assure documentation accuracy, improve workflow, save time, streamline scheduling and generally make life easier for a totally rehab-focused facility.
ÒWe reviewed several different software options before narrowing our search to three companies,Ó said Carmen Pride, physical therapy manager and project manager on the search team. ÒAfter conducting extensive web demos and then comprehensive on-site demos of the three product finalists, we chose Chart Links. They definitely stood out and we especially liked the way their application looked.Ó
ÒWe wanted to continue to use our primary EMR as the central point for our patientsÕ summary of care and billing records,Ó said Donna Nobbe, information systems director. ÒTherefore, our requirements for this project included a series of interfaces. Chart Links had experience doing this work with our hospital EMR vendor and provided valuable interface documentation.Ó
The MMCH Rehabilitation Center launched Chart Links in January 2009. ÒI totally expected the first day of Ôgo liveÕ to be really crazy and haywire,Ó remarked Pride. ÒWe sat in a room waiting to problem solve and expecting to help steer people through a hectic transition. But no problems came! That first day Ð and since Ð everything with the Chart Links system has been smooth and seamless. IÕd recommend it to anyone.Ó
Chart Links solution exceeds rehab centerÕs expectations
MMCH has realized a full range of benefits, well beyond expectations:
Insurance reimbursement is significantly faster. Before, it took an average of 90 days until bills were sent out. Now, the timeframe is under 30 days. ÒThis was made possible by the customized interface Chart Links created for us,Ó noted Pride. ÒOur billing is still distributed through HospitalÕs primary EMR, but the Chart Links solution has streamlined and accelerated the process. We get our insurance monies in the door much more quickly now.Ó
Compliant documentation is more accurate and worry-free. ÒWeÕre billing now with far less anxiety about errors because of Chart Links,Ó said Pride. ÒCCI edits, for example, have improved. Chart Links automatically notifies you of CCI edits so we donÕt have to catch them on the backside or lose payments because we billed two procedures instead of one. Chart Links is our first line of defense, letting us know immediately if thereÕs a problem.Ó
Scheduling is more organized, streamlined and accurate. Prior to Chart Links, the MMCH rehab facility scheduled manually with an appointment book (referred to as Ôthe BibleÕ) which often resulted in confusion and error. ÒIt was very unorganized,Ó said Pride. ÒThere were too many therapists and not enough spaces to write in. Patients sometimes showed up when we didnÕt expect them.Ó
The Chart Links solution has not only streamlined the scheduling process and cleaned up the errors but has also made the process completely user-friendly and intuitive. Unlike the other complicated-looking schedulers the rehab center management had considered, the Chart Links scheduler appears on the screen exactly like a book, a format the staff was very comfortable with. ÒThe Chart Links scheduler was so easy to use and get used to that the staff abandoned Ôthe BibleÕ on day two of go-live rather than the six months they thought they would need to transition,Ó remarked Pride.
The workflow of the application makes sense, reflecting the way a therapist works and reports. ÒEverything on the screen is organized and logical,Ó said Pride. ÒItÕs Windows based operating system is a superior advantage. Print Preview, for example, depicts what the chart note will actually look like, a huge improvement over what we had. Even the range of motion measurements come out neater and, therefore, easier to read by the physician. Everything just looks better and flows better.Ó
The Chart Links Analytics option is a huge time-saver. ÒWith Analytics, you can look at specific programs and find out which ones are doing well or not,Ó noted Pride about the Chart Links ad-hoc reporting tool. ÒYou can pull anything out of the system you want and analyze the data. Where month-end statistics would take an enormous amount of time to assemble with our old manual system, now we can run a report almost instantly.Ó
Customer service has been superb right from the start. ÒAnother major selling-point of Chart Links is their depth of rehab knowledge and their willingness and eagerness to share that expertise with us,Ó noted Pride. ÒWe get very few vendors who have given us the customer service that Chart Links does,Ó said Trisha Prickel, manager of information system services. ÒThey have responded to help desk questions at night and have been available to check the system after hours. I have been very impressed.Ó |