American Outcomes Management
Collaborative Solutions Offer Better Patient Care
Industry/Solution
Medical - Home IV Therapy & Infusion Services
Implementing a robust infrastructure can help companies provide
efficient services, allowing for business to be conducted in a more
timely manner. Especially in the medical and healthcare industries,
collaborative solutions can help streamlines business processes,
allowing more time to concentrate on patient care.
American Outcomes Management,
(AOM) is a physician owned and operated
leader in
home infusion
services. Its
home IV therapy
services
specialize in the
care of patients
with Multiple
Sclerosis and
other chronic
and acute disease
conditions.
With offices in
Fort Worth,
Texas and New York City, AOM’s patient
charts were spread between both
offices and its departments. When its
field nurses conducted home visits, they
were required to document the treatment
provided to patients. Up until last
year, this information was recorded on
paper forms, which were later turned into the home office and routed manually
to the appropriate departments. This
became very labor intensive
and was inefficient.
AOM required a
solution that would
allow its field nurses,
independent of their
location, to access
their entire patient
chart at their offsite
location. They also
wanted a way to cut
down on the costs of
paper, printing, and
the time of maintaining
a paper environment;
its Texas location was already taking up
two rooms filled with patient charts.
Kirk Graham, IT director for AOM researched
several document management
vendors. With its user friendly interface,
CNG-SAFE document management
and workflow software by Cabinet NG (CNG) came out on top. The solution streamlines user tasks, by moving manual paper-based procedures into efficient automated workflow processes, eliminating the need for paper. It consolidates all information into one organized and easy-to-use system, allowing instant document filing and extensive management tools. “The interface was very user friendly and less scary than the others we looked at,” said Graham. “CNG-SAFE was also more customizable and affordable with comparable features.”
Additionally, CNG collaborated with LincWare, an e-forms provider, to provide AOM with a complete solution. Now, AOM utilizes the Apple iPad, CNG-SAFE and LincWare’s e-forms program to help improve its day-to-day business operations and patient care. “We wanted to eliminate the paper forms, expedite data entry, and improve accuracy by eliminating the handwritten information,” says Graham. “CNG was able to help us meet these expectations.”
CNG and LincWare pull data from AOM’s medical application CPR+ for indexing and workflow routing purposes. Since LincDoc Mobile runs on the iPad, a field nurse can choose the type of form they want to fill out – this could include supply request forms, expense reports, medication profiles, visit records and even verifications with insurance companies – and complete all of the necessary information on site. LincDoc pulls the pertinent information from either the CPR+ database for patient information, the CNG database for HR (expense, mileage) or Pump (maintenance) related documents. Once the form is completed and submitted, CNG imports and saves the document into the Patient, Employee, or Pump chart, then based on the type of document or certain fields in the form, it will submit the document into workflow.
By using these technologies, AOM has gained benefits such as:
- Billing Efficiency – ability to bill for nursing visits in minutes rather than weeks or months.
- Organization – everything is filed electronically vs. multiple rooms filled with paper documents and filing cabinets.
- Forms are more legible in a digital format - no need for verification or explanation due to illegible handwriting.
- Improved workflow – data collected by the nurses is inputted electronically, streamlining billing and patient medical chart maintenance.
- Savings in time and money – cost savings on paper, toner, and time maintaining paper charts. AOM has sped up its ability to bill for visits by weeks vs. months.
Replacing the paper process the field nurses used to use via filling out and submitting their paperwork via email, fax, or snail mail has allowed AOM to gain savings in both time and money. Field nurses can now quickly and accurately collect all necessary patient information and enter it electronically so it is immediately routed to the appropriate person or department and entered into work-flow. Rather than taking weeks, the process is reduced to just days. |
