Jonathan Perlin, MD, president of clinical services and chief medical officer for HCA, told InformationWeek Healthcare in an email, "Good patient care requires having the right information at the right time. We are increasingly supporting doctors using tablets and smart phones. They are power users of these devices, and providing secure access to electronic health information, fetal monitors, and heart rhythms, at the moment a question or patient need arises, promotes quality care." View the full article here.
The right information at the right time. It's nothing new--but why does it prove difficult for so many labs and hospitals?
There are dozens of obstacles that stand in the way of getting the right data when it's needed. Perhaps your organization's laboratory information management system (LIS) doesn't house each provider or patient's data (multiple systems are not uncommon).
Or maybe your lab customer relationship management (CRM) solution isn't a solution at all because it's too hard to use, impossible to run real-time reports within, and isn't tailored to the needs of healthcare organizations.
But if you consider the effect that timely data has upon your lab or hospital's ability to form long-lasting relationships--what are you waiting for? Consider this example:
Laboratory A
The executive team has real-time access to information such as TAT and actual order volume vs. projected anytime they want it via their iPad, Blackberry, or laptop. Their customer care representatives and providers automatically receive a critical value alert when a life-threatening situation emerges; and their providers can view the status of any test order whenever they want to.
Laboratory B
The executive team reviews information such as TAT and order volume on a quarterly basis...because it takes six people three months to pull the data out of the LIS and make sense of it. Their customer care representatives log data in to two systems each time something happens so that all of the necessary parties have access to it. If they go to lunch, come back, and forget to log into their laboratory management system while a critical value is found....nothing happens.
Which do you think will provide a higher standard of patient care? Client care? The answer is so obvious...yet so many organizations are suffering through cumbersome processes like Laboratory B every day.
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