HLTH 2022 Recap: 3 Takeaways from Interlace Health

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Earlier this month, I was in Las Vegas for the #HLTH22 conference at the Venetian Expo. Having been at the same venue last year for HIMSS 2021, I was feeling underwhelmed heading into a conference with so much walking and so many lines. But, much to my surprise, the entire vibe was different. HLTH was my eighth (yes 8!) conference this year and I have to say that I ended on a high note for the year. I believe that HLTH is working hard to ensure they deliver a new conference experience that gets people excited.

Here are my 3 takeaways from this week at HLTH:

 

Mental Health Matters. A Lot.

One of the opening sessions on Monday was with the CEO and Chief Purpose Officer at Calm, and was titled: The Body. The Mind. The Future of Whole Health. During their time, David Ko and Jay Shetty shared some statistics on mental health in the US, as well as how much of a role our mobile devices play in our stress levels. Yet, they weren’t proposing we ask the unachievable, that people put down their phones. They were suggesting that the alternative solution is actually right next to the problem: technology is a big part of the solution. Health focused technology and apps that can remind people to a break. Take a breath. Make time for their mental health.  Jay Shetty said “The surgeon general told me recently that mental health is a national priority. But we have to all do it together – a collaboration for a happier, healthier nation.”

This sentiment was stressed throughout the HTLH exhibit floor, most prominently with the introduction of Well by hlth. This was an “inaugural ‘event within an event’ for consumer health and wellness brands focusing on wearables, fitness, mental wellness/mindfulness, metabolic health and cardio metabolic disease, nutrition, longevity, sexual health, sleep health, psychedelics, and food innovation.” (hlth.com)  Calm introduced their “Calm for business” platform this week and many vendors joined them in offering employers ways to tackle a major obstacle to a healthy work culture. Technology that serves as a new form of “employee benefits” and a way to have more resilient, happier and healthier staff members.

In addition to vendors focused on whole health, there were several stations throughout the exhibit hall encouraging rest and mental breaks. A large globe hung in the very center of the space, where people could lounge on beanbags away from the harsh glare of fluorescent lighting. Once you were done resting under the globe, you step right outside to play classic arcade games like air hockey and skee-ball. Or, step into the Puppy Park and pet a dog for a few minutes. The Zen Lounge invited you to “Come in and Chillax” right next to oxygen bar and several comfy couches. If creativity is your stress relief, you could grab a marker and “Color Me Stress Free” on a large adult coloring page with the HLTH logo.

 

Collaboration is Critical for Change

There isn’t just one approach to fix the challenges that face the healthcare industry in the US, and there isn’t just one vendor who can solve everything. A message that resonated with me this week was that collaboration across the industry is going to be critical as we begin to make the big changes needed to ensure everyone has access to affordable care – for their whole health. Let’s allow consumer business who have created technologies to make things easier for their customers, share those technologies with payors and providers to make life easier for patients. Let’s make it easier to push big changes through the healthcare system and cut through unnecessary red tape so that we can provide better care to patients, faster.

In the session titled “Removing the Filter from the Business of Healthcare”, the Executive VP of Health & Wellness for Walmart and President and CEO at SCAN Health Plan had a candid conversation about the pressing topics impacting the future of healthcare. They started their discussion around the staffing challenges facing the industry and how 300,000 people left the medical field this year, 120,000 of them being physicians. “There are significantly more medical conditions now, than when those doctors trained”, Dr. Cheryl Pegus shared. Re-hiring alone is not going to solve the problem; emerging care models are going to have to fill in the gaps. Dr. Pegus continued, “Walmart is sometimes the only option in medically underserved areas. 17 million people visit Walmart in these areas, every day”. She went on to share that Walmart can meet these patients there, in a place they can access, with the care they so desperately need. She went on to say “Healthcare is broken. We should stop telling people to stay out of the industry. We all need to come to the table and fix this problem together. The goal is to make healthcare better than it is today. Think about patients first. Profits second. Be more about service to people and service to communities, than padding the bottom line.”

I want to also call out the focus on women in healthcare and women’s health this week. I learned a new term this week: “Femtech”, investing in the health of women. I also learned a shocking statistic that we spend the most money on prenatal health care in the US, but our mothers and babies have some of the worst outcomes of any developed nation. I greatly appreciate how much of a focus HLTH gave to women this week, and I hope that many cutting-edge organizations were able to connect and collaborate in ways that will drive significant change in this area.

 

An Exceptional Experience Encourages Attendance

As I mentioned before, I went to eight conferences this year. I was in Dallas, Boston, Chicago, Orlando, Las Vegas and Denver. All of these cities offer a great venue to hold a conference and an opportunity to enjoy all that the city has to offer. But the reality is that you are often stuck in the conference center for days, eating grab & go sandwiches and any candy you can find being handed out by vendors. HLTH did it a little differently. Not only did they provide food for breakfast, lunch, and snack times, but it was really good food, with lots of different options depending on your diet, and your time available to eat. The best part was that it was all available in the exhibit hall where you already were for every single session, meeting, and vendor visit. You didn’t have to leave to navigate unknown conference rooms or battle Vegas hotel lines for a quick lunch.

Vegas is a city for nightlife, and HLTH made sure to offer the true experience. All three days of the conference included evening events at nightclubs, with fun entertainment, free drinks, and more food. The week culminated in a private concert by Ludacris at Drai’s nightclub. After spending 10-12 hours in an exhibit hall, it was nice to have another way to see old friends, meet up with clients and network with potential partners, that you didn’t have to plan for. Food and fun may not be on the top of the list for everyone attending a conference, but for someone who goes to several each year, the added experience makes me more likely that I would want to come back again. Conferences seemed to be falling off of many organizations marketing plans prior to COVID, but the need for in person connection post-pandemic has given them a surge this year. Every conference organization is looking for ways to keep vendors coming back and attendee numbers high. Creating that exceptional experience that delivers happier participants is going to be key next year to drawing big crowds and I look forward to seeing how things continue to change.

 

Watch the video below for a first-hand look inside HLTH 2022 in Las Vegas! 

 

 

 

About the Author:

Dessiree Paoli is the director of product marketing at Interlace Health, a company that transforms workflows by providing clinicians and patients with digital healthcare solutions. She has more than 20 years of experience in driving strategic marketing initiatives, leading teams, and developing integrated campaigns, and she has worked in healthcare for more than 14 years.

 

 

 

 

 

Interlace Health Rides Alongside of the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation

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For the second year, Interlace Health teamed up with a long-time partner, the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, to help sponsor and participate in the Tennessee Chapter’s annual Cycle for Life Challenge. 

The Cystic Fibrosis Foundation’s (CFF) efforts contribute to many positive advancements in cystic fibrosis (CF) treatment that allow those living with CF to live better, healthier, and longer. In 1955, children with this rare genetic disease, that causes a thick mucus buildup in many vital organs, including the lungs, and makes breathing very difficult, were not expected to live to elementary school age. Now, the median life expectancy is 53 years-old! We now have 40,000 people with CF living in the US and over 100,000 people worldwide, with more adults than children living with CF. At this point, there is still no cure for CF, but the CFF is in it “until it’s done;” the CFF’s mission is to cure CF and to provide all people with CF the opportunity to lead long, fulfilling lives by funding research and drug development, partnering with the CF community, and advancing high-quality, specialized care.  

As the CFF works to achieve their mission, CFF chapters nationwide host a variety of physical endurance events. Each year the CFF Tennessee chapter hosts an exhilarating cycling and fundraising event, the Cycle for Life Challenge. Participants fund raise and cycle to aid in “adding tomorrows for people living with cystic fibrosis.” 

As an event sponsor, Interlace Health employees laced up their sneakers and got active. Employees divided into inter-departmental teams for some friendly competition. Team members cycled, ran, and walked then logged their milage during the week of October 17. The winning team logged 450 miles (that is further than the 300 miles distance from St Louis, MO, where Interlace Health is Headquartered, to Nashville, TN, where the in-person cycling took place). Together, the 5 Interlace Teams contributed 1,775 miles to the 3,700 total miles logged (that is 48%) and contributed to the over $75,000 raised during the event for the CFF! 

Sean Hipps and Jolly Johnson, the CFF’s Tennessee Chapter Development Director and Senior Development Director, kicked off the virtual event for the Interlace Teams sharing educational information about CF and the CFF and rallying excitement. The week concluded with an awards ceremony to celebrate the winning team, individuals with the most miles logged, and everyone’s participation. Afterwards, Hipps shared additional words of encouragement and gratitude, “it takes an entire community to make a lasting difference and the way so many came together this year was truly inspiring. We appreciate you helping make this year’s CF Cycle for Life event an incredible success!” 

 

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: 

 

Ellie Silver is a Solution Architect at Interlace Health. In this role, Ellie provides expertise to healthcare organizations, incorporating Interlace Health solutions, services, and integration technologies to help optimize workflows for patients, providers, and staff. Her degree in Health Science combined with her experience as a Project Manager and End User Trainer enhances her abilities as an innovator in the healthcare IT industry. Ellie is enthusiastic about healthcare and is passionate about helping healthcare organizations create continuous success.

Forms on Demand Relieves Paper Overload at Canadian Healthcare Organization

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Forms on Demand Relieves Paper Overload at Canadian Healthcare Organization 

We are proud to announce that we have been featured in Canadian Healthcare Technology, a source of information for decision-makers in hospitals, continuing care facilities and home care organizations.  The story highlights our partnership with our valued customer, Halton Healthcare in Canada. We began working with this award-winning Canadian healthcare organization —three community hospitals and numerous community-based services serving more than 400,000 people—a few years ago. We helped them implement a Forms on Demand solution that consolidated all their forms into a single, central repository, automating their registration packages and reducing their overall paper burden. The solution also enabled a significant streamlining of their registration process.  

View the full story below as posted on Canadian Healthcare Technology.  

 

On-demand forms printing at Halton Healthcare reduces use of paper 

OAKVILLE, ONT. – Halton Healthcare, a group of three hospitals just west of Toronto, has been able to eliminate its print shop through the use of on-demand forms printing. This has resulted in a significant reduction in costs, primarily through the decreased use of paper and labels – much of which was wasted. Now, hospital staff and professionals print what’s needed as they need it.  

Before the print-on-demand solution, provided by Interlace Health, Halton Healthcare employees would order large quantities of forms and labels.  

“They’d request 3,000 to 4,000 forms at a time,” said Leovee Reyes, applications analyst, information and communications technology, at Halton Health-care. “Often, they wouldn’t use a lot of them – or any.”  

That’s because once the forms had been printed, the Ministry of Health may have requested a change to the form, making it obsolete. When that occurred, “They would all be thrown out,” said Reyes.  

Moreover, printing and attaching labels was an expensive and laborious task. Patient labels were often needed, and manual labour was required to attach them. If a change to the form was demanded, and the labels had already been attached, the team would have to start over again.  

Revisions from the health ministry were only one type of change that could throw things out of whack. Human error could also occur, with mistakes appearing on a form. These forms would also need to be reprinted.  

Finally, there was also a propensity to simply print more forms and labels than needed at any one time. “We have other hospital customers who have printed boxes and boxes of forms, only to throw them all out before using even 10 percent of them,” commented Dessiree Paoli, director of product marketing at Interlace Health.  

Interlace Health and Halton Healthcare held a webinar in May in which they outlined how the Forms on Demand Solution has improved forms management at the hospital. 

The change to the computerized solution occurred several years ago with the construction of a new Halton Healthcare facility in Oakville, Ontario. At that time, the decision was made to reduce stockpiling of paper as much as possible.  

The solution from Interlace was introduced, enabling a centralized system of managing forms. The database made updating forms much easier and printing out the forms, as needed, meant that the most recent ones were being used.  

Using the system from Interlace Health, Halton’s staff can print forms and labels in smaller quantities, as needed. 

“There were fewer old versions floating around,” said Reyes. Moreover, the forms could be directed to a printer at the unit at which the user was working. So, if a staff member or clinician was located at a different area of the hospital or different unit, the forms could be printed right on the clinic floor. It became much faster to obtain up-to-date forms, without the need for delivery.  

In addition, patient labels could be automatically included in the forms, eliminating the need to manually attach them.  

Paoli commented that in other hospitals using Interlace, physicians have appreciated the ability to auto-populate forms, so they don’t have to fill them in. “Patient, too, don’t like to fill out forms,” she noted.  

The forms database is used at Halton Healthcare for a wide range of documents, including things like COVID-19 packages, patient instructions and order sets, all of which may be regularly updated. Users can also note their favorites, so they can quickly access and print the forms they use the most.  

As well, the system can be integrated into the electronic patient records system used by the hospital. At Halton Healthcare, for example, MEDITECH is used. When working with a patient, an administrator or clinician can pull up the patient’s record and print out the appropriate form – with the patient’s information embedded in the form.  

Reyes said the automated forms solution has made a definite difference at the hospital: “Forms are more accurate and up to date – and we’re using far less paper.” 

We look forward to continuing to help more healthcare providers, such as Halton Healthcare, take the stress out of their paperwork. By changing to streamlined systems and paperless solutions, it can take the load off staff members and provide a stress-free transition. 

Click here to see an online version of the article. 

Interlace Health Cowboys up for a Great Cause: Franklin, TN Rodeo

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Interlace Health Cowboys up for a Great Cause: Franklin, TN Rodeo

In 1949, Franklin Noon Rotary Club hosted their first rodeo in Franklin, Tennessee. Nearly 72 years later it is the largest rodeo in the state. After a two-year break, due to the COVID-19 Pandemic the rodeo returned in 2022. Interlace Health was honored to be along for the ride as a 2022 event sponsor.

This past May, the Franklin Noon Rotary Club celebrated its 71st year producing the rodeo. Interlace Health has been a proud sponsor of the rodeo for the past 4 years. This multi-day event brings in over 18,000 people each year. Each day of the event has a different theme that sponsors a charity. Engaging and interactive activities such as a Parade, Mutton Bustin’, Barrel Racing and Bull Riding, are a tremendous draw for the crowds. It is an event for the whole family to enjoy.

“Interlace Health strives to lead with heart, and supporting the rodeo allows us to do just that. Contributing back to the community in a major way, while also having a really good time.”- Allison Reichenbach President, Interlace Health

“In the ‘60’s, there was a shortage of physicians, dentists, and trained nurses in our county. For many years, the Franklin Noon Rotary Club gave scholarships to medical, dental and nursing schools. That financial aid produced a number of good doctors, dentists, and nurses.” – Haynes

The Franklin Rodeo has raised over $4 million dollars for charity in the last 70 years. One hundred percent of the proceeds go to various charities, making a difference in people’s lives. They have contributed to scholarships, non-profit organizations, medical centers, and so much more. This event requires over 300+ volunteers per day, and engages the community in a multitude of ways.

Hear directly from Interlace Health President, Allison Reichenbach, LIVE from the 2022 Franklin Rodeo 

Learn more about Interlace Health’s Charitable Giving Efforts.

The Clinical Trial Evolution: Unlocking Technology’s Value in a Post-Pandemic World

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Never has the pace of change been more rapid in the clinical trial industry. Many new approaches to clinical research were pressed forward during the COVID-19 pandemic, most notably the move towards decentralization.

This shift to virtual trials has shed a spotlight on the need for more remote elements to improve participant recruitment, engagement, understanding, and retention. As a result, we have seen technologies that were kept at arm’s length or only occasionally used, being fully embraced. A wide variety of alternative approaches were quickly implemented during the pandemic, with the most common technologies leveraged being remote monitoring, virtual visits, EHR, and eConsent.

To better explore what clinical trial management will look like in a post-pandemic world, Informa Pharma Intelligence and Oracle surveyed professionals involved in clinical trials to understand the adaptations that have been made to clinical trials, the effect, and the impact of these changes on the future of clinical trials.  Key findings from this research include:

  • Newly adopted methods embraced during the pandemic had a positive impact on clinical trials: 82% of respondents who implemented new clinical trial approaches during the pandemic report they have had a positive impact on clinical trials overall.
  • The industry is confident in the data generated from newly adopted clinical trial approaches. 92% of respondents who implemented new clinical trial methods during the pandemic are equally or more confident in the data collected from these methods, compared to data collected via pre-pandemic methods.
  • Newly adopted clinical trial methods are here to stay – 97% respondents who implemented new clinical trial methods during the pandemic indicated their organization will continue using at least one of these new methods.

When it comes to technology in clinical trials, it is obvious that what was once novel, is now mainstream. As sponsors and CROs look to embrace decentralized solutions, it’s imperative that they carefully consider which technologies will help them scale and grow for the future.

 

eConsent: The First Step to Clinical Trial Success Today and Tomorrow

During COVID-19, eConsent functionality went from being an optional add-on to a feature that CROs and sponsors considered essential.

As they say … “you only get one chance to make a first impression”. The consenting phase is a critical time because it’s the beginning of the journey with a participant. It’s critical to secure informed consent which formally includes the participant in the study.  The journey is critical to ensuring the participant follows the study protocol, that the patient stays in the trial.

eConsent technology can help connect patients/trial participants with organizations in a new way that will improve:

  • Engagement with participants
  • Education & understanding of participants​
  • Timeliness of participant onboarding​
  • Data quality​
  • Staff workflows by reducing paper burdens​

But to make the eConsent process work, clinical trial professionals need to find an eConsent solution that’s compliant, efficient, and equipped with a rich array of features: from eSignature, version control, fillable forms, and integration capabilities.

Interlace Health digitizes the process and eliminates paper consent, improving understanding and engagement, and ultimately accelerating and streamlining start-up times – leading to cost and time savings. The solution integrates seamlessly with your EHR and clinical trial software and is customized to meet your remote, in-person, or hybrid consenting needs.

We recognize that the move to decentralized trials is not a simple flip of a switch. As the leader in healthcare eForms technology for the past 30 years, we are here to help you navigate this new landscape.

 

Ready for a More Reliable Way to Consent Participants to Clinical Trials? Contact us today.

 

New webinar preview: How healthy is your consent process?

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Here’s a question you may never have considered before: How healthy is your consent process?

You might not think of your organization’s various processes and workflows as having their own “health,” but they actually do. In most businesses, healthy processes add value to the completion of a product or service. In healthcare, that value directly contributes to the experience and the health of the patient. Unhealthy processes don’t add value—and they may actually reduce it.

You can even take the analogy one step further. Much as clinicians can diagnose a malady by observing its effects on different parts of the body, you can “diagnose” the health of your consent process by assessing the value it adds to different facets of your organization.

How does an unhealthy consent process impact your patients, your staff and your bottom line? That’s the topic of my new webinar on June 29: How Healthy Is Your Consent Process?

A healthier patient experience

Patients have high expectations of their healthcare providers. (As they should!) Yet there are times when consent processes let them down, and those experiences range from annoying to infuriating.

For instance, 95% of patients have had to provide the same information more than once. That’s annoying.

On the opposite end of the scale, what happens when a consent form for a procedure goes missing? The patient may have taken time off work, fasted for the better part of a day, and made umpteen other arrangements—and now their procedure has to be postponed because of a missing form. That’s infuriating—but not all that rare. Researchers at Johns Hopkins have found that consent forms were missing for 66% of surgical patients, resulting in ten percent of cases being delayed.

A healthy, digital-based consent process—such as eConsent from Interlace Health—makes it easier for patients to complete the necessary forms and much more difficult for staff to misplace them. That makes your patients’ experience healthier.

A mentally healthier staff

Your clinicians, nurses and other staff should have one priority: patient care. Of course, we all know there’s more to the job than that, and always will be. And while there may always be some amount of paperwork, excessive paperwork is a burden that’s definitely not healthy for your organization.

In fact, 92% of clinicians think administrative work is a major contributor to healthcare worker burnout. Definitely unhealthy.

Processes built around eConsent from Interlace Health can reduce a great deal of that burnout potential, because your staff will no longer have to waste time searching through in-baskets or folders for forms. All they need to do is scan a patient’s wristband to ensure the correct consent form is generated—and patient records are incredibly easy to archive and retrieve, without additional manual entries, scanning or indexing.

Reducing staff stress is a strong sign that you are creating a healthy consent process.

Healthier financial performance

Unhealthy, paper-based consent processes hurt your bottom line. Research has found that consent delays cost the average 500-bed hospital $265,112 annually—and larger hospitals can experience losses in excess of $2 million.

That’s not surprising when you consider that one minute of operating room time costs an average of $36 to $37. Multiply that figure by the length and frequency of delays, and then by the total number of procedures your hospital performs each year, and the total cost of surgical delays turns into a significant hit to your financial performance.

(At $36 a minute, a single one-hour delay costs $2,160. A hospital with one such delay every day would lose more than $15,000 per week.)

On the other hand, hospitals using eConsent from Interlace Health have reported saving more than 10 minutes per consent completed, along with up to three days faster archiving per consent. Additionally, they never experience a missing consent causing a delay in surgery. A healthy consent process is clearly reflected by a healthier bottom line.

On June 29, our webinar will examine these aspects of healthy and unhealthy consent process more closely. You’ll have the chance to ask questions about:

    • How paper-based consents can undermine patient experience
    • Why most staff members strongly prefer digital consenting
    • The true budgetary costs of paper-based consent processes

Please join me for How Healthy Is Your Consent Process? Examining patient, staff, and financial impacts on June 29.

New On-Demand Webinar: How Forms on Demand Relieves Paper Overload

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One of the coolest aspects of my job is the long-running partnerships between Interlace Health and the health systems that deploy our solutions. Watching their success over the years as their organizations grow and evolve is as rewarding as the relationships that develop over the years.

Case in point: Halton Healthcare.

We began working with this award-winning Canadian healthcare organization—three community hospitals and numerous community-based services serving more than 400,000 people—a few years ago. We helped them implement a Forms on Demand solution that consolidated all their forms into a single, central repository, automating their registration packages and reducing their overall paper burden.

When COVID-19 hit, we helped them develop new, lower-risk registration processes that enabled them to rapidly set up testing centers across their organization.

Have they continued to make progress in optimizing their paper-based processes? That’s the topic of this new on-demand webinar with Halton Healthcare Applications Analyst Leovee Reyes: How Forms on Demand Relieves Paper Overload: A Live Case Study.

Good-bye to the in-house print shop

Halton Healthcare used to generate so much paperwork, they had their own in-house print shop. When they enlisted help from Interlace Heath, they had three goals:

    • Decrease paper and label printing
    • Establish one central place for all their sites to obtain forms
    • Reduce costs

Now, all the organization’s forms are accurate and up to date, with order sets, downtime forms and patient instructions all obtainable instantly on demand—and auto-populated with patient demographics.

The solution also enabled a significant streamlining of their registration process. Registration packages are now automatically set up to print when a patient registers, with printing based on location, site and specific account- and location-based criteria. No matter where registration occurs, the form can print to any printer in the organization.

Overall, Forms on Demand reduced the organization’s paper burden so significantly that Halton Healthcare no longer needs its in-house print shop. Other organizations, whether they print their own forms or outsource them, can realize a similar reduction in print burden and cost.

Rapid response when COVID-19 struck

In 2020, COVID-19 forced Halton Healthcare to quickly develop an alternate solution for registering patients that would minimize the risk and exposure of its registration clerks.
Yet nurses’ time and attention are finite. The more they devote to forms processes, the less they can devote to patient care. And when they devote less time and attention to patients—or leave the profession entirely—patient care suffers.

Working with Interlace Health, the organization created a new, risk-free registration process in which clerks registered patients via phone. Chart and lab requests printed directly to the testing center, removing the need for clerks to deliver them in person.

The organization started with one testing center per site, but the demand volume created an urgent need for more. Interlace Health solutions helped give them the ability to easily set up four clinics per site, with little startup time.

A live case study with Leovee Reyes

Head shot of Leovee

Leovee Reyes is a 13-year veteran at Halton Healthcare. As an Applications Analyst, she’s been instrumental in integrating Interlace Health solutions over the years, with credit due for helping make all the ensuing benefits possible.

On May 19, I chatted with Leovee about developments over the last couple of years. Our webinar serves as a kind of live case study, answering key questions about Halton Healthcare:

    • How have their registration processes continued to evolve during the pandemic?
    • What kinds of savings and advantages have they realized from streamlined forms management?
    • And does anyone miss the print shop?

To explore the answers and learn more about Forms on Demand, please watch How Forms on Demand Relieves Paper Overload: A Live Case Study.

New webinar preview: How Forms Processes Can Improve ASC Patient Care

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Where would ASCs be without nurses?

Unfortunately, that’s not an academic question. Every health system experienced severe staff shortages when COVID hit in 2020, and ASCs have been struggling to keep good people ever since. What’s more, recent studies have found that nursing shortages had negative impacts on patient care.

Retaining nurses—and attracting new ones to the profession—is a multi-dimensional challenge that healthcare leaders will be focusing on for years to come. There is one dimension to the story, however, that ASC leaders can explore today: forms processes.

Digital forms solutions can reduce the burden on nursing staff, making them more likely to stay on the job and better able to focus on improved patient care.

That’s the topic of my new webinar on May 12: How Forms Processes Can Improve ASC Patient Care.

The patient care impacts of nursing shortages

We all know how essential nurses are to excellent patient care, so it’s hardly a surprise that a nursing shortage would negatively impact patient outcomes. Still, recent research on the topic is sobering.

  • Years’ worth of improvements in patient safety in hospitals and skilled nursing facilities were wiped away at the start of the pandemic, according to an analysis published in the New England Journal of Medicine.
  • Nursing shortages lead to a reliance on traveling nurses. A study published in the American Journal of Infection Control found a correlation at two Illinois hospitals between the use of traveling nurses and increased infection rates.
  • Patients are aware of what’s going on, too. According to the healthcare safety organization Emergency Care Research Institute, the top two patient safety concerns for 2022 are staffing shortages and healthcare workers’ mental health.

    • I’m not trying to paint a negative picture—just pointing out the urgency of keeping as many nurses on the job as we can, and making their jobs as easy and stress-free as possible. While most of these stats are about hospitals and large health systems, I think the challenges ring true for ASCs as well—and I’m going to talk about how in the webinar

    Better forms processes can help. And they can help right away.

    How improved forms processes can improve patient care

    Forms processes are a major factor for every ASC. Whether they’re paper-based, digitally based or a combination of both, they take up a significant proportion of a nurse’s time and attention.

    Yet nurses’ time and attention are finite. The more they devote to forms processes, the less they can devote to patient care. And when they devote less time and attention to patients—or leave the profession entirely—patient care suffers.

    That’s why improved forms processes that save time and reduce busywork are so critical to your ability to deliver excellent patient care. In my live May 12 webinar, I’ll explore how digital forms solutions can reduce the burden on your staff so they can focus on what they do best.

    We’ll talk about:

    Reducing paperwork-related stress—and making your nurses’ jobs easier—can be an essential factor in delivering excellent patient care. Let’s start making it happen!

    Please join me for How Forms Processes Can Improve ASC Patient Care on May 12.

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