An EHR Problem at Universal Health

The Case Study: An EHR Problem at Universal Health

Introduction

This is a case study of a universal health organization which is a large but non-profit organization. The UH (Universal Health) system has 12 hospitals in three states and 2 large oncology programs in Arizona. Universal health systems have several compound issues such as both the oncology programs use different systems for performing day-to-day tasks. The current EHS system of the organization is not sufficient to fulfill the requirements of universal health. Several issues are associated with this current EHR system. Even though oncology navigators at both locations perform the same task, some differences are there that need collaboration. The company needs an improved EHR system that can benefit both north and south oncology programs. These issues will be resolved in this paper.

Analyze a current state.

In universal health, the management of oncology patients is quite difficult. The merger of Oncology South and Oncology North created serious problems within the EHR. Universal health has two oncology programs one is oncology south and the other is oncology north. Both the programs were working differently with their customized solutions but not resulting in a profitable and efficient outcome. Universal health needs an improvement in its oncology programs so that both programs can produce a profitable outcome. This can be done by combining both north and south oncology programs so that a standardized oncology solution for universal health can be created.

The opportunities identified for process improvement include:

• Integrating the EHR systems for both north oncology and south oncology programs.
• Automating the manual processes.

Universal health can use the Oncology EHR system also known as CureMD that helps the organization to overcome the issues of electronic documentation and many more that were experienced with the traditional HER system. CureMD or Oncology EHR system is a cloud-based EHR system that is specially designed for handling Oncology programs. This system provides customized EHR, scheduling, billing, and practice management solutions (Green, 2017). CureMD oncology EHR system provides various automation features that help in improving the workflow in oncology settings.

The system provides a range of features from the collection of basic clinical data and patient population management to more complex data management such as chemotherapy dosing, tumor staging, administration, and care for survivorship that requires an oncology-specific EHR (ehrinpractice, 2021). The system provides an opportunity to manage both administrative and clinical data. In addition to this, it also provides analytical and data collection capabilities. The basic features that CureMD oncology offers include:

• Treatment plans and treatment summary report: The system provides the treatment plans and treatment summary report that helps the navigators as well as patients to get the details of the treatment and the cost of the treatment. It creates transparency between patients and healthcare provides. Hence, they can gain customer trust and increase their customer base.
• The system is interoperable with other EHS systems: The most important feature of any system should be interoperability. This system has a feature of interoperability that means the system can share and make use of the information in all departments of the organization.
• The system provides a follow-up plan which is necessary after treatment of oncology patients: A follow plan is always necessary to understand the future complications in the patients. It helps the navigators to stay in touch with their patients and they can get the information related to the patient's history that can be used in the future (CureMD, 2021).
• The system has features of advanced data collection and analysis: Data collection and data analysis are two important parts of the system. This helps in making important decisions in the future. Through data analysis of old patients, doctors can get an idea about which treatment is more effective and beneficial for patients.
• The system offers features of quality reporting: Quality reporting carries the information of the statistical data based on that important decision can be made.

In addition to these basic features, the system also provides some advanced features:

• Offers evidence-based regimen library in which order templates are standardized based on treatment types and disease categories.
• Provides clinical decision-support monitors that help in detecting renal or hepatic dysfunction. The recommended changes can also be implemented through actionable alerts.
• Offers charge capture in which the collection of all billing information can be done from chemo documentation.
• Offers chemotherapy prep, admin, and order in which drug volumes are calculated automatically. The system can differentiate between single and multi-dosage vials so that wastage can be determined appropriately.
• The system has a feature to provide therapy flow sheets in which navigators can view the characteristics of therapy.

Future state workflow

In the previous section, we have discussed the CureMD oncology EHR system that helps the organization to overcome several issues of integration, automation, design, etc. (Bangerter, 2021). Here we discuss the workflow of the system:

The above diagram shows the workflow diagram of the CureMD EHR system that starts with login from navigators. The first-time user has to register the system and the system will generate the username and password for the user. These usernames and passwords will be used to access the system in the future. Once the navigator accesses the system, they can perform the tasks as per requirements. The system integrates both the north and south oncology programs. The data from different sources is captured in the CureMD oncology EHR system and then processed into the processing of clinical and patient data. The processed data is then stored in the databases. The system has two databases one is for clinical information and the other is for patient data. The clinical data is stored in the clinical database while the patient's data is stored in the patient's database. The stored data is then analyzed through data analysis. Once the data gets analyzed, it will generate the summary report of all data. This summarized data will be used by healthcare professionals and navigators for decision-making. By integrating the data from south oncology and north oncology program, it becomes easier to manage the data and hence a profitable output can be achieved.

Rationale

1. Users of the workflow: The primary users who can use the system include nurses, doctors, and other relevant staff members in the hospital. The users can access the system by logging in to the system. New users have to first register the system and then they will get a username and password through which they can access the system.

2. Different opportunities identified for process improvement in the organization include:

• Integrating the EHR systems for both north oncology and south oncology programs: With the help of the CureMD oncology EHR system, both the north and south oncology programs can be integrated. By integrating these programs, university health can benefit its business and improve the care of oncology patients.
• Automating the manual processes: Several processes in the traditional EHR system are manual. CureMD oncology EHR system provides the features of automation in which several day-to-day processes can be automated. By reducing the manual tasks, the navigators can focus on more important tasks hence increasing the productivity of the business.
• Aligning the EHR system with the whole organization: The CureMD oncology EHR system not only integrates the north and south oncology programs but also helps in performing the tasks in different departments hence aligning the EHR system with the whole business of the university health.
• Improvement in the build of an EHR system: CureMD oncology EHR system provides an improved version of the existing EHR system. It has several features that the traditional EHR system lacks. Some of the features that the new EHR system possesses include monitoring the lab work automatically, workflow features such as chemotherapy ordering billing, scheduling, imaging, and efficiency.

3. The new system reduces the number of steps by automating several processes in the business. In automation, these steps are reduced and can be completed with just one click. Electronic documents can be optimized by reducing information overload.

4. The new system provides features in which navigators can access the patient's queries and solve them quickly without extra effort. Patients can directly contact navigators and brief them on their problems. The system provides a patient portal on which patient information is available. By going through the history of patients, healthcare professionals can provide the treatment and guide them even if they are not available in that area. Patients can also contact healthcare professionals and take guidance from them.

5. The new system is scalable that means it can be changed as per the user's needs. Users can add or remove new and old features respectively from the system. The system has different portals. Each portal has access to a specific user and only the authorized user can access that particular portal. Changes can be made as per the requirement of the users.

6. Continuous improvement is essential in every system. It provides an opportunity to achieve growth and profit in the organization. For this, an improvement plan is necessary that include several points:

• Identifying the current issues
• Involving the users in the plan
• Set the clear objective and goal of the system
• Developing training programs
• Reviewing the progress regularly.

Conclusion

In this paper, we have discussed several issues universal health faces while using the traditional EHR system. to overcome several issues with traditional EHR, a new and improved EHR system has been recommended. CureMD oncology EHR system has been recommended so that universal health can run its business efficiently and effectively.

References

Bangerter, J. (2021). Data Flow Diagram Symbols, Types, and Tips | Lucidchart. Lucidchart.com. Retrieved 2 July 2021, from https://www.lucidchart.com/blog/data-flow-diagram-tutorial.

CureMD. (2021). Practice Management Software - Put Your Practice on Track. Curemd.com. Retrieved 2 July 2021, from https://www.curemd.com/practice-management.asp.

ehrinpractice. (2021). Oncology EHR. Ehrinpractice.com. Retrieved 2 July 2021, from https://www.ehrinpractice.com/oncology-ehr.html.

Green, J. (2017). Five oncology EHRs to kickstart your selection shortlist. Ehrinpractice.com. Retrieved 2 July 2021, from https://www.ehrinpractice.com/top-oncology-ehrs.html.