I was reading an article today that reminded me of the Y2K era - remember that? I was working with an ECM solution provider focused on the transportation industry. Something that stuck with me was a comment from one of the owners of a trucking company. He said, "My business is to keep my trucks rolling and drivers paid." If the back office works, I do not need to do anything different. When I found his pain point was cash flow and showed how an ECM environment would help, he and many others adopted and implemented ECM. So what does this have to do with hospitals?
The article I read from CNN Money titled Pagers cost hospitals billions, discusses a study by the Ponemon Institute on how many hospitals are still using pagers for staff communications. They cite poor Wi-Fi connectivity and email restrictions as reasons for not using smartphones yet the article points out that an average of 46 minutes per day is wasted by physicians and nurses using pagers to communicate. They further cite that the cost of lost productivity due to the use of lagging technologies like pagers is in the range of $8B annually. This is hard for me to comprehend in today’s world of information management where not only is collaboration using smartphones and tablets greatly enhanced, so is access to patient records, which also translates into faster response times.
I know I will be simplifying this but in my view, this is a prime example of the “it ain’t broke don’t fix it” syndrome where organizations only focus on those things that have become non-functional. Just like the trucking companies in my past that only took action once the pain was uncovered, hospitals in this situation have not identified a pain point that warrants change. The fact it costs $8B annually in lost productivity is not enough as this can be and likely is passed on to the patient. To me the real pain point would be that of the patient and responsiveness to meet their needs in a timely manner.
Imagine a situation in the ER where the physician is waiting on lab results or those of an MRI in order to take action. The page is sent and she/he has to call for the results. If the line is available and the tech can answer immediately, discussion ensues and actions can be taken. Using a secure ECM environment, turn that into the results being posted to the patient files, a notification and link to the information is sent to the physician who can now review them on a smartphone or tablet immediately and take action much sooner. Even cutting the response time by 5 minutes can make a huge difference in the ER, not to mention the time it could save in every process from admitting to discharge.
If you are ready to move forward and are finding yourself stuck or unfocused and are not sure where to begin or what to do next, seek professional assistance and/or training to get you started. Be sure to investigate AIIM's Enterprise Content Management training program.
And be sure to read the AIIM Training Briefing on ECM (authored by yours truly). Click on the image to download and read. http://pages2.aiim.org/ecm_collaboration_social_business.html
What say you? Do you have a story to tell? What are your thoughts on this topic? Do you have a topic of interest you would like discussed in this forum? Let me know.
Bob Larrivee, Director and Industry Advisor – AIIM
Email me: blarrivee@aiim.org
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