Customers Praise Powerful Reporting Capabilities for Driving Strategic Analysis, Enhancing Patient Care

Customers are praising MEDITECH's Health Care Information System for providing a wealth of information for managing quality and performance throughout all levels of their organizations. Whether it's for clinical, business, or operational analysis, hospital leaders are accessing the information they need from the MEDITECH system, and they are seeing it in a way that is easy to understand for maximum decision-making.

MEDITECH's solution, together with products from Medisolv and the Institute for Health Metrics, enables customers to synthesize key data in an effort to guide quality and achieve better outcomes, while avoiding medical errors; perform cross-population analyses; and monitor and achieve national and regional benchmarks.

MEDITECH recently had the opportunity to speak with several customers who are using our system in a variety of ways to achieve their long-term goals. Here we share some of their insights on how the MEDITECH solution has aided in these efforts.

Managers Making Savvy Business Decisions On-the-Fly
Reporting initiatives have evolved remarkably over the past decade at St. Agnes Hospital (Baltimore, MD). Once used as a behind-the-scenes ad hoc tool, MEDITECH's reporting solution is now supporting some key decision-making efforts in numerous areas.

One initiative St. Agnes is particularly excited about is the ability to monitor day-to-day expenses. "Responsibility reporting for the financial departments used to be an especially labor intensive, paper-driven effort, but now we are using the system to provide each department head with on-line Web based responsibility reports to monitor the actual versus budgeted expenses in real-time, without having to wait for the general ledger period to close," says Ken McCormick, director of information services at St. Agnes Hospital. "Often, managers monitor these reports several times throughout a single day, enabling them to manage their responsibilities proactively so there are no surprises when we close the period."

These reports, which use Medisolv's Web-based applications RAPID and IndiGo, are utilized widely in the financial areas at St. Agnes. "More than 200 managers and directors view the reports, while an additional two dozen have actually been trained to tailor the reports to suit their departments' needs," says McCormick. "The reporting solution is dynamic and flexible; the fact that we can tailor it as needed makes a real difference for executives who are challenged with making crucial financial decisions on a daily basis."

Clinical Reporting Improves Department Analysis, Patient Care
The system's robust capabilities for department-level decision-making are not limited to the financial arena. For example, clinical department heads at Hays Medical Center (Hays, KS) are avid fans of MEDITECH's reporting solution, according to Data Analyst Jamie McDonald. A favorite report she supplies the hospital's clinical department management is one comparing the number of medical procedures ordered over a three year period, comparative to the day of the year.

"Nurse leaders and department directors are able to monitor trends on these medical procedures being ordered, as well as evaluate the revenue coming from these procedures," says McDonald. "They are analyzing data captured on these reports including restraint and pain chart audits, turnaround times in the Operating Room, and Pyxis medication administration."

Also enthusiastic about clinical reporting, Mount Nittany Medical Center (State College, PA) shares an important effort to improve communication about ventilator patients, which could otherwise be overlooked in a busy hospital environment.

"In the past, nurses had to place orders for nutritional consults when patients were placed on a ventilator. Now, when the respiratory therapist documents the initiation of a ventilator, a notification is automatically sent to the dietician," explains Joyce Walls, director of information services at Mount Nittany Medical Center. "This makes the process much more reliable and patients' nutrition requirements are assessed in a more timely fashion."

Analyzing Data Across the Hospital is Key to Strategic Planning
Being able to analyze organization-wide data is also a top priority at Mount Nittany. They take pride in the ways reporting efforts have helped to manage their bottom line. For example, the organization uses information about use-patterns and reimbursement to assist with decision-making.

"Our executives use these reports to identify target areas for improving market share, for contract negotiation, and for predicting impact to the organization based on community employer changes," says Walls.

Similarly, at TriRivers Health Partners, LLC (Rockford, IL), reporting efforts are numerous and varied. Executives all the way up to the board level are evaluating outcomes data from their MEDITECH system to assist with making far-reaching, strategic decisions. According to Phil Wasson, joint vice president and chief information officer, the organization's FHN Memorial Hospital facility is particularly advanced in its reporting efforts.

"FHN has made great strides over the past eight years in developing its scorecarding initiative. They are able to monitor a number of key performance indicators based on data pulled from the MEDITECH system," says Wasson. "Our executive team can then access automated scorecards whenever they need them, and analyze data not only at the department level, but also facility-wide. We presently have about 40 scorecards."

Using these scorecards, department leaders are able to analyze vast amounts of patient and financial data contained within the MEDITECH system in many different ways. For instance, specific reports allow executives to view improved clinical outcomes data, as well as charges across the organization by procedure cost or by procedure code groups.

In addition to furthering the organization's continuing journey to improve care quality, FHN Memorial Hospital's hospital-wide performance measures have also earned them a spot on the 2008 Thomson Top 100. "The hospital has been using Thomson's eight quality key performance indicators from Medicare for the past two years," says Wasson. "Our ability to make strategic decisions directly related to enhancing the quality of care delivered to each patient was a large factor for earning this prestigious recognition."

Taking Reporting to the Next Level: Achieving National Performance Benchmarks
As part of a nationwide effort to improve hospital performance, customers are able to gather large amounts of data from their MEDITECH system and report on quality measures as outlined by agencies such as The Joint Commission, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, and Press Ganey. For example, with patient safety and care quality being top priorities at Hays Medical Center, the organization publishes quality data on its Web site with the help of products from the Institute for Health Metrics. Some of the published information includes snapshot reports of Press Ganey survey responses, based on patient satisfaction at the hospital. The voluntary, public reporting effort places Hays ahead of the curve in national transparency initiatives.

"By posting performance measures for common health conditions, we are presenting the community with data to make informed decisions when selecting a hospital," explains Bill Overbey, senior vice president, chief information officer, and chief financial officer at Hays. "The information is also used by Hays Medical Center to ensure the standards and core measures established by The Joint Commission and CMS are followed, and that clinical outcomes at Hays Medical Center meet or exceed the national and regional benchmarks."

The folks at Hays continue to be excited about the strides they are making in improving patient care, and have also been participating in the Institute for Health Care Improvement's 100,000 Lives Campaign to prevent "never-events." "The MEDITECH solution is critical to delivering safe, quality care," states Overbey. "We are proud of the organizational improvements we've been able to accomplish from reporting, and with MEDITECH as our vendor partner."