Q&A: Expert Insight into Home Health Staff Challenges

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Interlace Health has been providing digital workflows and forms automation in healthcare for over 30 years. We want to continue to support clinicians in putting People over Paperwork, even as we see health care move outside the walls of a hospital and into the home. Our eSignature for Home Health solution was created to help make the administrative workflows for home health clinicians less cumbersome. We asked our resident home health & hospice expert, Nena Franco Baptiste to share her insight into these challenges. She came to us with 17 years’ experience in home health and hospice and now works as a project manager here at Interlace Health where she works to ensure the solutions are successfully implemented & managed for our customers.

 

What were the most common staff struggles that you saw in home health during your tenure at an agency?

They say you never really know the struggles of someone else until you walk a mile in their shoes. And that is how I uncovered the struggles that clinicians face in home health & hospice, even after I had been working in the industry for many years. That experience came for me when my father was discharged after critical surgery, and we had home care come into our personal space and into our family’s lives to help take care of him. That’s when it really hit me that the field staff are a crucial part of the healthcare journey for patients and family. They manage so much in a single day, and I saw it in a new light. Here are just a few of their daily challenges:

-Juggling their daily caseload

-Managing all the paperwork

-Traveling from each patient to the next, and often back to the office

-Fielding questions from family members

-Serving as a voice between the physician and the patient or family

-Documenting clinical care so the home-based experience is as seamless as the hospital

-Ensuring medical records has what they need to submit billing

-Providing patients with the clinical care they need

 

 

What are some of the impacts you saw specifically related to a paper-based forms process?  

There are 5 main challenges that I saw related to paper-based form processes during my time in home health:

  1. A lack of consistency in care & process due to high staff turnover.

Staff retention is an ongoing issue in home health, and the abrupt changes that occur when you have staff with physical paperwork and medical equipment in hand when they resign, can impact several people and slow down the entire process.

  1. Juggling multiple patient appointment types in a day.

Staff could have two admissions visits, a 60-day check-in and a rehospitalization visit all on the same day. Treating patients, calming & educating family members, ensuring all paperwork is completed and documenting care are just a few of the to-dos. Having to drive back to the office to scan in all the paperwork after a day like that is a sure cause of burnout.

  1. Power of attorney isn’t home.

Maybe the POA couldn’t get off work, the visit was rescheduled, or they are traveling out of state on the day of the visit. Now staff and family are coordinating how to communicate about the appointment, get the forms signed and sent back in a reasonable amount of time.

  1. Multiple language needs.

Staff may not have been informed in advance that the patient or family members don’t speak English, and they may not have access to translation services on the spot. Being confined to only the printed forms they have on hand causes patient frustration, staff frustration and delays in care and billing.

  1. Mountains of paper for medical records.

Medical records staff are the recipients of these mountains of paper forms that need to be reviewed and filed away. This takes a considerable amount of their time and there is much room for human error.

  1. The pre-survey scramble.

Preparing for a JCAHO survey, a CHAP survey, or Medicare survey is a time-consuming endeavor. Everything needs to be perfect and where it is supposed to be, and staff scrambling to ensure this is the case when paperwork is involved are facing an uphill battle.  There will always be that one paper form that gets lost or has a coffee stain on it and it’s hard to read, or it didn’t come through the fax machine. It can be frustrating to experience delays in sending your RAPs into Medicare because you don’t have all your documentation together. I remember preparing for our CHAP survey once and one of the clinicians literally just came in and dumped a huge pile of paperwork out of her bag, with little time to spare. It was a huge mess of paperwork, and it took a few of us half an hour to sort through it all and get organized. It was a race to the finish line that time for sure.

 

 

What are some of the solutions that helped staff the most to juggle these challenges?

The agency I worked for served six different counties so staff could often expect to drive 40+ miles to see one patient, and their daily caseloads were very heavy. Our primary goal was to maintain continuity of care from the hospital or physicians’ office at home and encouraged our staff to build a trusting relationship with the patients and their families. However, with so much to manage in a day, there were many struggles such as late paperwork coming back to the office or staff running out of medical supplies.  The agency tried to make things easier for staff by setting up satellite offices where field clinicians would have a place to get online, pick up paperwork and medical supplies and touchdown to do clinical documentation. However, those were expensive to maintain and had to close due to budget cuts.

The next initiative we implemented to help clinicians manage their days and to improve employee satisfaction was an internal communication channel. This system allowed staff to submit requests for blank forms that we could send out to their homes, or medical supplies we would ship directly to the patient’s home. The goal was to save them a trip to the office and reduce their daily driving time. We hoped it would let staff feel like we were there “taking care” of them while they were out taking care of patients. Those may seem like very small changes, but when staff are overwhelmed, they can have a substantial impact on patient care, staff burnout and care quality. Our staff had a little extra time in their day to focus on patient care and it made a big difference.

But one of the biggest improvements I saw came from digitizing as much of the paper process as was possible. Having a fully electronic consenting process removed the possibility of errors and missing forms. This cut down on staff time, patient frustration, billing delays, survey concerns and expenses. It is a small change, but it makes a big difference.

People Over Paperwork

A small change that makes a big difference. That is a pillar of what People Over Paperwork means to us here at Interlace Health and why we are dedicated to ensuring our solutions are making a difference for all our customers. Book a customized demo for your agency.

Watch how Interlace and others are using technology innovations to enhance home-based care.

 

 

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Dessiree Paoli, Director of Product Marketing & Strategy at Interlace Health

Dessiree Paoli is the Director of Product Marketing & Strategy 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. Connect with Dessiree on LinkedIn. 

 

 

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Challenges in Digitizing Informed Consents, and How to Overcome Them

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A well-respected CIO I know once referred to Informed Consents as “the last mile to a paperless patient record”. Given that over 76% of Informed Consents are still handled on paper, it appears the majority of health systems have not crossed the finish line.

The case for moving away from paper is strong; The Joint Commission cites over 500 organizations each year for failing to have proof of completed, compliant consents prior to the procedures performed. Lack of a verifiable, time-stamped consent can be used in lawsuits related to malpractice tied to a procedure.

Many health systems have processes to confirm a valid consent prior to the beginning of an operation. Failure to find this consent right away leads to delays in surgeries which cost $62 per minute according to a 2022 article found in the National Library of Medicine. A study by JAMA showed $265,112 in revenue on average is lost annually in a 500-bed hospital due to consent delays a year in lost surgical revenue.

Paper creates pronounced problems with compliance and risk, and the impact on revenue is also high, so why are we still seeing so many consents completed on paper?

After 7 years of supporting clients with Informed Consenting, we at Interlace Health have come to understand why organizations have tried and failed to digitize the process and why some organizations have chosen not to embark on this transformation.

Here are 4 common challenges we’ve uncovered:

  1. Converting paper consents into digital formats can be a lot of work, especially if you are creating the consent forms within the Epic EHR. If you consider all the Informed Consents needed by all your service lines, it can number in the hundreds. Creating the digital version including all the consenting language for all these consents can take months to do internally and be very expensive if you use Epic certified consultants.
  2. Consents need to be updated over time due to changes in regulations as well as your own organization’s requirements. Revisiting each of these digital consents to get them up to date again requires your staff or expensive third-party consultants’ time and attention. Who on your team will be keeping tabs on changing consenting language required in your state?
  3. Different consents have different workflow requirements. We’ve worked with health systems that require an Imaging procedural consent to be stored in both the non-Epic PACS systems as well as the Epic EHR. An anesthesiologist’s consent might need to be stored in 2 separate EHRs, one of which is often not Epic. If you are looking to support Clinical Trial Consenting, the FDA has a set of unique requirements that Epic consenting currently does not support. Some providers start informed consent in the clinic weeks before a surgery is even scheduled, while others need to get them signed at the pre-op bedside for emergency procedures. How does your health system handle and manage all these different workflow needs?
  4. Another challenge comes when a surgeon outside of your system has operating privileges. Both the doctor and patient often prefer to handle the consenting process during the pre-operation consultation. These consultations often take place in the doctor’s office, and with the current process, those signed consents do not always make their way to the hospital for the hospital team to scan into the patient’s chart day of surgery.  If you don’t enable the physician’s office to send the consent digitally and allow it to be assigned to the patient hospital record, it ends up needing to get re-signed on the day of surgery; redundant work for the care team and the pre-occupied patient

We also understand that change is hard. Even if paper is suboptimal, it may be the workflow your team is comfortable preforming. Maybe you have tried implementing eConsents and it didn’t stick. The medical team has enough to concentrate on ensuring optimal patient care. They don’t want to deal with another mobile device just to get a formed sign. They would rather go back to paper, but what does that do for your compliance and HIM team?

Interlace Health has seen hospitals struggle with these paper-based workflows over the last 32 years and listened to their evolving needs. We use this feedback from the field to continually develop our eConsenting offerings and combat these challenges.

Our Informed Consent solution includes the ability to have consents stored in multiple locations. We allow for the transfer of consents not only within a health system but can import consent forms sent from other healthcare providers via email or fax. Our solution has the flexibility to support all your care settings and service lines even those challenging Clinical Trial Consents.

Because we designed our software from the ground up to optimize the consenting process, we can digitize your consents more rapidly than other systems including Epic Consents. Our Services team includes a group of forms experts who can design, integrate, and update consents more rapidly and at a lower cost than your staff or consultants. We can even track changes in mandated consents such as the Texas Surgical Consent language requirements.

Our implementation team knows how to create the right workflows for each consent to ensure a better experience for patients, nurses and doctors than alternatives.  We also provide guidance on the right type of devices that are ergonomically acceptable for patients and staff yet still allow everyone to “see what they are signing” to maintain compliance.

 

Ready to efficiently and effectively upgrade from paper to electronic consenting within your Epic EHR?  Let’s schedule time to discuss your unique requirements and how Interlace Health can make this work for you.

 

About the Author:

Art Nicholas, Chief Commercial Officer at Interlace Health, has over 20 years of experience in launching and expanding technologies in the healthcare field. He was a pioneer in getting speech recognition used by both doctors and nurses in inpatient and outpatient settings. In every role, his teams have successfully implemented automated workflows which benefit patients, providers and the healthcare ecosystem. A strong believer in the healthcare IT community, he has been an active member of CHIME, HIMSS, and MUSE, sitting on a number of their committees. He is committed to improving the quality of patient care and lowering the cost of care delivery through well-designed and well-supported technology workflow solutions. Follow Art on LinkedIn.

 

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So, What Exactly is the “Interlace” in Interlace Health?

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I asked Microsoft CoPilot for a definition of ‘Interlace in healthcare’ and part of the answer was the following:

“In healthcare, interlace can relate to interconnected systems, such as medical devices communicating with each other or sharing patient data.”

“For example, an interlaced system might involve a patient’s wearable fitness tracker syncing data with their electronic health record (EHR) system.”

Within our product offerings, an Interlace provided by our platform can interweave different products, technologies, and people. This leads to more connected and streamlined processes. An Interlace focused on the Informed Consent process, for example, involves a patient (or guardian in some cases), and a nurse and/or physician participating in a streamlined eConsenting workflow.

 

Why did we change our name from FormFast to Interlace Health?

In 1992, FormFast was created at its core to greatly improve how organizations managed healthcare forms and ultimately the information that drives their business and leads to better patient care. While this mission remains today, at that time, this meant replacing printed forms with a library of forms that could be printed on demand. Hospitals saved money by only printing forms as they were needed, eliminating the need to throw out unused, out-of-date forms. Savings were also gained by not having to take up square footage to store all these forms and compliance was improved by making sure the forms being used were current and supporting hospital requirements and government regulations.

While this capability remains within the Interlace Health platform, as time passed, healthcare, technology, and patient expectations evolved – and so did our company. Over the years, we went from selling to individual hospitals to health systems with a broad range of care settings including ambulatory clinics, imaging centers, skilled nursing facilities, home healthcare and of course short-term acute care. We went from simply providing a library of forms, to being able to create packets of registration forms automatically, capture electronic signatures and store completed forms back to the EHR.

Clients requested the ability to pre-populate forms from the electronic health record, capture discrete data and export it back into the EHR, data lakes, or other destinations. We are now expected to integrate with payment processing systems, email, and text messaging services and fax systems.

The integration of products, data, and people really is an “Interlace”, not simply an add-on application.  By connecting these various products and capabilities into streamlined workflows, we have evolved from simply making forms available quickly (FormFast) into Interlace Health.

We simply grew beyond “an eForms company”, as we now contribute to:

  • Improving patient and provider interactions
  • Reducing burnout for healthcare workers amidst staffing shortages
  • Improving the financial picture for systems under severe stress
  • Enhancing an organization’s investment in their EHR
  • Ensuring compliance

Another example of an Interlace is Pre-registration or Remote Patient Intake. Once a patient has scheduled a visit to the doctor or hospital, a customized packet of forms is delivered based on the nature of the visit. These forms include pre-populated data from the EHR and can be completed on the patient’s own phone, tablet, or computer before their appointment. These forms are delivered via email or SMS message and do not require the patient to be pre-registered in a portal.

Patient-completed forms are automatically sent back to the health system for archival. In addition, the discrete data collected is available for use by areas such as revenue cycle and clinical departments. Interlace’s pre-registration workflow also allows co-pays to be collected and posted even before the visit. Automated reminders about the visit and completion of the forms are also sent via SMS or email, reducing no-shows and allowing the patients to avoid spending time in the waiting room completing paperwork.

This one Interlace between patients, staff, EHR and Practice Management software saves staff time. Errors related to staff’s inability to read handwriting or mistyping information is reduced. The revenue cycle is accelerated when the co-pay is collected in advance of the visit, versus hoping the person at the front desk captures it at the time of visit. Overdue balances can be shared discreetly with the patient prior to their visit, and payment plans can be offered.

The pre-registration Interlace also improves the patient experience by eliminating the need to re-enter demographic information over and over again, and providing the ability to complete forms on a familiar device, at a time that is convenient rather than in a waiting room full of other patients.

To effectively deliver a workflow that meets the expectations of all stakeholders, Interlace Health identifies client goals during pre-sale discovery sessions, follows a well-thought-out implementation plan, and maintains ongoing communication to ensure optimization of that workflow.  An effective Interlaced workflow is more than just software, it’s the joint effort between the client and Interlace staff to ensure its properly configured, trained on, and supported.

While we may look different today than we did in 1992, our goal has always been to transform healthcare processes, allowing organizations to focus more on people over paperwork. Find out how we can help your organization do just that by Interlacing your Forms on Demand, Patient Intake and Consenting workflows. Schedule a DEMO today.

 

About the Author:

Art Nicholas, Chief Commercial Officer at Interlace Health, has over 20 years of experience in launching and expanding technologies in the healthcare field. He was a pioneer in getting speech recognition used by both doctors and nurses in inpatient and outpatient settings. In every role, his teams have successfully implemented automated workflows which benefit patients, providers and the healthcare ecosystem. A strong believer in the healthcare IT community, he has been an active member of CHIME, HIMSS, and MUSE, sitting on a number of their committees. He is committed to improving the quality of patient care and lowering the cost of care delivery through well-designed and well-supported technology workflow solutions. Follow Art on LinkedIn.

 

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Mejorando los flujos de trabajo en Radiología con la tecnología eForms

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Read in English

El Hospital Morris está situado en Morris, Illinois, sede del condado de Grundy, al suroeste del área metropolitana de Chicago. Fundado en el año 1907, el Hospital Morris es cliente de Interlace Health desde hace mucho tiempo, ya han utilizado nuestros productos y soluciones para Formularios bajo Demanda (Forms on Demand) y automatización de flujos de trabajo.

La necesidad de implementar formas en el Departamento de Servicios de Imágenes presentó una oportunidad para Interlace Health y Morris para trabajar en equipo, convirtiendo formas en papel a un formato digital. Morris ha estado usando hojas de cálculo, gestionada por los técnicos de imágenes para catalogar datos para exámenes por imágenes realizadas a cada paciente. El proceso era bastante engorroso.

Por ejemplo, si un paciente requería una tomografía computarizada (CT), rayos X ó imagen por resonancia magnética (MRI), entonces se requería preparar y completar tres hojas de cálculos diferentes. Éstas eran escaneadas e insertadas en el expediente del paciente junto con los documentos de consentimiento informado correspondiente firmados por el paciente. Además, los documentos de consentimiento informad también requerían ser escaneados manualmente y archivados en las tres órdenes separadas dentro de la solución informática de PACS en Morris.

Cada vez que un formulario de papel era usado, se incurría un costo asociado con la impresión, escaneo y destrucción del documento de papel, junto con los costos laborales incurridos en cada uno de esos pasos. Además de costos monetarios, formularios de papel pueden extraviarse, su finalización puede ser retrasada por el requerimiento de ser escaneadas e introducción en el sistema de expedientes y salud electrónica (EHR). Cuestiones de conformidad con las normativas pueden surgir cuando la documentación apropiada no se encuentra presente en el sistema de expedientes de salud electrónicos (EHR) al momento de realizar los exámenes de salud.

Pasar y reducir de tres a una hoja de cálculo para todos los exámenes de Radiología

El equipo de implantación de Interlace Health estudió el flujo de trabajo con el equipo de Morris y determinó que no sólo se podía digitalizar el proceso para estas hojas de cálculo, sino que una sola hoja de trabajo podría utilizarse para todas las pruebas que se le hicieran a un paciente.

En lugar de escribir a mano las notas en las columnas del formulario en papel, éste incluye campos en los que se puede introducir texto para cada procedimiento. Una vez cumplimentada la hoja de trabajo, todos los datos necesarios para catalogar estas pruebas se introducen automáticamente en el sistema para su conformidad con las normativas y su facturación.

Gracias al trabajo realizado por el hospital y la empresa, ahora es posible que un clínico o un técnico de imagen seleccione un procedimiento y el proveedor en una tabla de consulta. El formulario de consentimiento se prepara para el proveedor antes del procedimiento. No es necesario que el paciente y el médico firmen el consentimiento al mismo tiempo; sin embargo, ambas partes deben firmarlo antes de que se realice el procedimiento. Una vez firmado por el paciente y el proveedor médico, se archiva digitalmente en el sistema de registro de salud electrónico AGFA Healthcare PACS, en el sistema Meditech Expanse EHR o en ambos sistemas.

Desde el punto de vista de los consentimientos, la empresa pudo sustituir un gran número de formas de consentimientos diferentes por un conjunto de formularios basados en bases de datos para todas las pruebas de diagnóstico por imagen que se realizan en el hospital. Al reducir el número de formularios de consentimiento, el hospital puede gestionar mejor las actualizaciones de cada uno de estos formularios en un único lugar.

Desde el punto de vista del paciente, el proceso de consentimiento también ha mejorado, ya que en lugar de tener que trabajar con papel en un portapapeles mientras el proveedor explica el contenido del formulario de consentimiento al paciente, ahora puede consultar el documento, que puede incluir imágenes de apoyo, utilizando una tableta.

El paciente firma el formulario de consentimiento como lo haría con cualquier otro documento en 2024: digitalmente.

Como esta solución ha sido tan bien acogida en el hospital Morris, Interlace Healthcare ha recreado este flujo de trabajo en nuestro entorno de demostración. Si está interesado en una demostración de los formularios de Consentimiento Informado dentro de Imaging Testing Services, así como de Worksheets, estaríamos encantados de compartir con usted cómo podemos ayudarle a agilizar este importante flujo de trabajo para su organización.

Puede ponerse en contacto con nosotros para programar su demostración personalizada.

 

Spanish Translation by: Alberto Colombano

Acerca del Autor:

Eric Ballard, es Consultor Senior de Implementación y Líder de Interoperabilidad en Interlace Health. Es un profesional de alto nivel en tecnologías de la información con una excepcional trayectoria profesional en el descubrimiento, el análisis de flujos de trabajo y el diseño de soluciones para sistemas sanitarios.

Tiene un historial comprobado de implementación de estrategias operativas eficaces, entrega de soluciones innovadoras y facilitación del éxito del cliente para garantizar la rentabilidad y la satisfacción del cliente. Eric ha desarrollado y diseñado ofertas de soluciones técnicas, ha cultivado y construido relaciones sólidas, y ha llevado a cabo implantaciones e integraciones de sistemas de TI sanitarios con una variedad de EMR/EHR.

Eric aporta su experiencia en la personalización de soluciones de informática de salud y proporciona asistencia consultiva a líderes de TI clave y de nivel C para identificar la mejor estrategia y resolver problemas.  Sus puntos fuertes abarcan el descubrimiento y la arquitectura de soluciones, la gestión de cuentas, las evaluaciones técnicas, el análisis de requisitos y necesidades, las relaciones con los clientes y la interoperabilidad.
Encuentre a Eric en LinkedIn.

 

 

 

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VIDEO: Flashback to The Interlace Health Customer Summit

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As I sit down to write this post on a chilly March 1st here in St. Louis, my mind drifts back to a very memorable and much, much warmer day in Austin, TX at The Line Hotel  – the site of the Interlace Health Customer Summit. This much-anticipated event brought together our exceptional customers for two days filled with insight, collaboration, education – and a lot of fun.

The Summit is designed by our customers, for our customers. With insights from our Customer Success Council and input from our valued clients, we crafted an agenda packed with valuable content, industry expertise, and networking opportunities. At the heart of the Summit was a shared dedication to shaping the future of care. From learning how to maximize their Interlace Health investment to gaining insights into our roadmap, attendees were immersed in discussions to drive innovation and excellence in healthcare.

But what truly stood out was the passion and energy of our customers. Their commitment to providing the best possible experience for patients and staff was palpable, and it was truly inspiring to witness. Every conversation, every exchange of ideas, was fueled by a shared mission to make a difference in the lives of those they serve. Hearing about the community this event has helped ignite is well worth all of the hard work that goes on behind the scenes. We love hearing how many of our customers stay in touch throughout the year to share their successes and help find new ways to overcome shared challenges.

As we look back on the Summit, we want to extend our heartfelt thanks to our customers. Your dedication and hard work are not only transforming healthcare but also making a real difference in people’s lives every day. We are honored to support your efforts and grateful to work alongside each and every one of you.

And while we’re busy planning our next events, I see you HIMSS!, the video below is a testament to the Summit’s success – a powerful reminder of the passion and commitment that define the Interlace Health community.

 

 

Stay tuned for more information and registration for our 2024 Interlace Health Customer Summit event! 

 

About the Author:

Lauren Ziegler is the Director of Marketing Communications at Interlace Health. She oversees Interlace Health’s corporate communications, content, branding, events, and digital marketing efforts. She brings over fifteen years of experience in helping support technology firm’s marketing and PR efforts.  Lauren is passionate about helping the healthcare community understand Interlace’s Health’s value, vision, and commitment to improving experiences for providers, patients, and staff. Find Lauren on LinkedIn.

 

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Enhancing Radiology Workflows with eForm Technology

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Read in Spanish

Morris Hospital is located in Morris, IL, the county seat of Grundy County in the SW Chicago Metropolitan area. Founded in 1907, Morris Hospital is a long-time client of Interlace Health, having used our solutions for Forms on Demand and Forms Workflow Automation. Recently, Morris expanded their relationship with Interlace Health to support Informed Consenting and non-patient facing forms in their Imaging Services department.  

The need for digital forms within the Imaging Services department created an opportunity for Interlace and Morris to partner on a form conversion from paper to digital format. Morris has been using worksheets, managed by the Imaging Technicians to catalog data for imaging tests completed for each patient. The process was quite cumbersome. For example, if a patient required a CT, XRAY, and MRI, then three different worksheets would be required to be completed. These would then need to be scanned into the patient’s record along with the appropriate informed consent documents once signed by the patient. Additionally, the informed consent would need to be manually scanned and archived to the three separate orders within Morris’s PACS solution. 

Each time a paper form is used, there is a cost associated with the printing, scanning, and shredding of the paper document, along with the labor costs incurred at each of these steps. In addition to the monetary costs, paper forms can be misplaced or form completion can be delayed due to the need to be scanned and entered into the EHR. Compliance issues arise when the appropriate documentation is not in the EHR at the time of the tests. 

Getting Down to ONE worksheet for ALL tests in Radiology

The Interlace Health implementation team studied the workflow with the Morris team and determined that not only could the process be digitized for these worksheets, but that a single worksheet could be used for all the tests a patient might have. Rather than hand-write notes in the columns of the paper form, the Interlace form includes fields where text can be input for each procedure. Once the worksheet is completed all the data needed to catalog these tests are automatically entered into the PACS system for compliance and billing.  

As a result of the work done by Morris and Interlace, it is now possible for a Morris clinician or imaging tech to select a procedure and the provider from a lookup table. The consent form is prepped for the provider ahead of the procedure. The patient and doctor do not need to sign the consent at the same time; however, it must be signed by both parties prior to the procedure taking place. Once signed by both the patient and the provider, it is digitally archived either into the AGFA Healthcare PACS system, the Meditech Expanse EHR, or in both systems.  

From a consenting perspective, Interlace Health was able to replace a great number of number of different consents with a database-driven set of forms in support of all the Imaging testing done at the hospital. By reducing the number of consents, Morris Hospital is better able to manage updates for each of these consents in one location.

From the patient’s perspective, the consenting process has improved as well, instead of ruffling through a clipboard while the provider explains the contents of the consent to the patient, they now can walk through the document, which can include supporting images using a tablet. The patient signs the consent much like they would do any other document in 2024—digitally.  

With this solution being so well-recieved at Morris Hospital,  Interlace Health has recreated this workflow in our demonstration environment. If you are interested in a demonstration of Informed Consenting within Imaging Testing Services as well as Worksheets, we’d be happy to share how we can help streamline this important workflow for your organization. Contact us to schedule your personalized demo.

 

About the Author:

Eric Ballard, is a Senior Implementation Consultant, Interoperability Lead, at Interlace Health. He is a senior-level HIT professional with an exceptional career record of successfully providing discovery, workflow analysis, and solution design for healthcare systems.

He has a proven track record of implementing effective operational strategies, delivering innovative solutions, and facilitating customer success to ensure profitability and customer satisfaction. Eric has developed and designed technical solution offerings, cultivated, and built strong relationships; and performed healthcare IT system implementations and integrations with a variety of EMRs/EHRs.

Eric provides expertise in customizing healthcare IT solutions and provides consultative assistance to C-Level and key IT leaders to identify the best strategy to solve problems.  His strengths span discovery and solution architecture, account management, technical assessments, requirements/needs analysis, client relations and interoperability. Find Eric on LinkedIn.

 

 

 

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Unlocking Solutions: How Health IT is Bridging the Gap in Home Health Care Amidst Staff Shortages

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Home health care has become an increasingly vital part of our healthcare system, allowing patients to receive necessary medical attention and support in the comfort of their own homes. With an aging population and rising healthcare costs, home healthcare has seen a surge in demand. However, a persistent challenge continues to hinder the efficiency and effectiveness of this sector – staff shortages.

More than 75% of individuals aged 50 and above in America express a desire to remain in their homes as they age. However, a recent study published in Health Affairs, highlights the declining availability of the essential home-based workforce needed to fulfill this demand. The shortage of staff in home healthcare has profound consequences, impacting both the quality of patient care and placing significant strain on healthcare workers. These consequences are wide-ranging and demand our focused attention.

A study led by LDI Senior Fellow Hummy Song discovered that over 30% of full-time registered nurses and around 25% of licensed practical nurses left their positions at a large home health care agency within a year. This high turnover is mainly due to volatile scheduling. To match supply and demand in real-time, it is not uncommon for home health staff to find out their schedules the night before their shift. Another study found that experiencing just 30 days of high schedule variability in a year increases the odds of a nurse quitting by 20%.

Addressing staff shortages in home health care necessitates a multifaceted strategy. Firstly, increased funding is crucial to enhance recruitment and retention efforts. Competitive salaries, comprehensive benefits packages, and opportunities for career development and advancement are all factors that can attract more healthcare professionals to the field of home healthcare.  (Home Health Care Workforce Not Keeping Up with Community Needs, Nancy Sherman).  However, implementing institutional and federal policy changes often entails lengthy approval processes. This is where Health IT companies step in, partnering to expedite impactful solutions.

On February 28th, Interlace Health is hosting a webinar with Strata Health and Telos Health Solutions: ‘The Evolution of Home Health: Technology Innovations Enhancing Home-Based Care’.  You can learn more & register for the event here.

  • Strata Health helps hospitals and skilled nursing facilities find available Home Healthcare Resources that match the patients’ needs. Many patients who rely on home health services have complex medical conditions that require specialized and continuous care.  Not all patients are alike, for example patients that have recovered from a stroke.  Not all Home Healthcare providers can deal with Post-Stroke Care.  Strata ensures that patients are not only matched up based on availability but also based on applicable services.
  • Telos Health Solutions enables Home Healthcare agencies the ability to maximize their interactions with patients through less but more impactful on-site visits.  The lack of available staff hampers home healthcare patients from receiving the timely and comprehensive care they need. Long waiting lists and delayed visits can result in deteriorating health conditions and increased hospitalizations, defeating the purpose of home health care altogether.  Telos’ innovative telehealth platform enables clinicians the ability to have more touchpoints with patients, virtually, and more frequently between their on-site home visits.  Actionable patient-reported updates, and aggregated reports of those patient insights help identify and solve potential systemic care challenges

Moreover, staff shortages often lead to an increased workload for existing home health workers. With fewer hands available to provide care, the burden falls on those who remain. This can result in burnout, exhaustion, and decreased job satisfaction for healthcare workers. Long working hours, increased stress levels, and limited time spent with each patient can compromise the quality of care being delivered. It is essential to recognize that the well-being of both patients and staff is interconnected, and one cannot be prioritized at the expense of the other.  Interlace Health is reducing the time nurses spend onboarding patients and ongoing consenting, affording nurses more time to make more visits.

In conclusion, the repercussions of staff shortages in home health care extend to patient care, healthcare workers, and accessibility to healthcare services. While we anticipate the implementation of institutional and policy mandates, healthcare IT is actively collaborating to alleviate some of these challenges.

 

About the Author:

Kristin Shores is a results-driven Strategic Partner Executive with a proven track record of cultivating and nurturing high-value partnerships that drive business growth and innovation. With over a decade of experience in the field, Kristin’s expertise lies at the intersection of relationship-building, strategic planning, and business development. As a strategic thinker, Kristin leverages her comprehensive knowledge of market trends and emerging technologies to craft innovative partnership strategies that position her organizations at the forefront of their respective industries. Her ability to adapt to evolving market landscapes and pivot with agility has been instrumental in delivering sustainable growth.  Connect with Kristin on LinkedIn. 

 

Contact Kristin to learn more about Interlace Health’s Partnership Program: kshores@interlacehealth.com

 

 

Join our Feb. 28th Webinar – The Evolution of Home Health: Technology Innovations Enhancing Home-Based Care

Register for the Webinar

 

 

LIVE from the MUSE Executive Institute: New Year in Newport

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One of the best parts of my job is that I get to build relationships with people. Not just people that I work, but with our customers and other vendors in the healthcare community. Earlier this month, Art Nicholas and I were able to immerse ourselves in a great community of MEDITECH EHR hospitals at the 2024 Muse Executive Institute.

The Executive Institute is a smaller event, with IT executives from about 20 hospitals who come together for educational sessions and reverse tradeshows with HIT vendors like Interlace Health.

This year’s theme was “Solving Workforce Challenges” and the executives in attendance also served as the session leaders. This provides invaluable insight into “how the other guys are doing it” for the CIOs, VPs of Information Systems and Medical Directors of Informatics who are in the audience. Hospital executives are facing similar workforce challenges across the country, and this event allowed them to share their solutions with each other. Some of the questions answered in the presentations were:

• How do you do more with less?
• How do you manage staffing issues?
• How do you measure productivity?
• Do you innovate, automate, or find AI solutions?

 

The session that I felt most creatively addressed these questions was titled “Personality & Productivity – Staffing the Seats on the Bus” by Kingman Regional Medical Center leaders Brett Mello, CIO and Dr. William Gustin, Director of Medical Informatics. Mr. Mello and Dr. Gustin led the group in an insightful session that focused on evaluating the alignment of staff personality with role expectations for each position in the department. Demands on IT departments are unrelenting, and many hospitals are facing increased project requests with reduced staff and budgets. The personality & productivity exercise was geared at maximizing department productivity, one individual at a time. This approach allows leaders to identify and reconcile misplaced personalities that are having a negative impact on IT workflow and culture.

One of my favorite lines from Mr. Mello’s presentation was “Culture eats strategy for breakfast”. It’s an adage we have all heard before, but it really resonated with me as I am working with my organization to determine the best strategies to meet our goals for the year. Taking the time to ensure you have the right people in the right positions to influence the cultural shift towards the change and success you desire is just as important as the strategy itself, maybe even more so.

Over the two days, there are many opportunities talk with and get to know each other better. These conversations provided insight into the challenges hospital IT leaders are facing in the year ahead, which helps me work with my organization to try and find ways to support them. A few common themes I heard were

  • Preparing for cyber security attacks. It’s not a matter of “if” it’s a matter of “when” and you need to be prepared when it happens.
  • Prioritizing digital technologies to improve the patient experience, enhance data collection and automate workflows for overwhelmed staff.
  • Patient portal improvements and adjustments. Patients are still slow to adopt the portal, but what are the other options to digitize the administrative process for staff?
  • Getting creative with the technology that you have in place today to solve other problems when budgets are tight.

My favorite part of the trip was spending time with our customers and hearing what they like most about working with Interlace Health, check out some videos below we captured.

What our Customers are saying at the MUSE Executive Institute

Tito Perez, Corporate Director of Enterprise Applications at Emanate Health

 

 

 

 

 

View Video

Eric Gasser, VP/CIO at Wooster Community Hospital

View Video 

 

Kelly Lippold, Director of Health Informatics at NMC Health

View Video

 

Jeff Goad, CIO at Williamson Medical Center

View Video

 

The Muse Executive Institute is a wonderful opportunity to connect with the MEDITECH community, learn more about their successes and challenges, and discover new ways Interlace Health can continue to enhance MEDITECH for our customers. I look forward to next year!

 

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Dessiree Paoli, Director of Product Marketing & Strategy at Interlace Health

Dessiree Paoli is the Director of Product Marketing & Strategy 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. Connect with Dessiree on LinkedIn. 

 

 

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Patient Assessments in Healthcare: Why They Matter and How to Integrate Them into EHRs

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Patient assessments are a vital part of providing quality healthcare to patients. They are the process of gathering, sorting, and analyzing a patient’s health information using evidence-informed tools to learn more about their overall health, symptoms, and concerns.  

Patient assessments can help healthcare providers and related organizations to: 

  • Determine the most appropriate healthcare for their patients. 
  • Identify groups of patients at risk for harmful exposures or health problems. 
  • Recognize patients who benefit from specific interventions to reduce the risk of injury or illness or improve health. 
  • Identify opportunities for illness and injury prevention and health promotion. 

Patient assessments can vary in length and range and may be asked of patients of all ages. Some may be completed during an office visit or between office visits, on paper or a computer. They can include questions about a patient’s medical history, diagnoses, medications, treatment plans, immunization dates, allergies, radiology images, laboratory and test results, and more. 

Assessments are being used in various types of health systems for different patient population groups. 

 

  • The University of Michigan Health System implemented a patient assessment tool to identify patients at risk of developing pressure ulcers. The tool helps healthcare providers identify patients who need additional support and interventions to prevent pressure ulcers. As a result, the health system saw a significant reduction in the number of pressure ulcers among patients. 
  • The Veterans Health Administration implemented a patient assessment tool to identify patients  at risk of developing chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). The tool assists healthcare providers in identifying patients who need additional support and interventions to manage their COPD. As a result, the health system saw a significant reduction in hospitalizations and emergency department visits among patients with COPD2. 
  • The University of California, San Francisco Medical Center implemented a patient assessment tool to identify patients  at risk of developing delirium. The tool helps healthcare providers identify patients who need additional support and interventions to prevent delirium. As a result, the health system saw a significant reduction in the incidence of delirium among patients3. 

 

A More Efficient Approach to Pediatric Assessments 

While many organizations use an electronic signature process at registration, clinical assessments are typically approached with pen and paper. After obtaining a CD with 450 English and Spanish pediatric assessment forms, Skagit Regional Health quickly realized they needed a practical way to distribute them. Requiring a more efficient and effective approach, Skagit modernized its approach to pediatric assessments.

Instead of printing the form and hoping it would eventually find its way into the EHR, the original was scanned and saved as a TIFF. Next, it was imported into Interlace Health Form Designer as a page-size image and published. With minimal effort, the header and barcodes were assigned, resulting in identifying features for scanning.  

With a few simple clicks, clinicians print the forms on demand as needed with Interlace Health. Additionally, all the necessary identifying information for batch scanning into the EHR is automatically populated on each form, minimizing human error. The electronic workflow allows for a centralized approach to document management while standardizing the forms and allowing for greater ease in version control.  

Using the Interlace Health tools to build or manage assessments is incredibly advantageous from both a time and financial perspective.  

If we had tried to build these inside of our Epic EHR, the time and cost would have been incredibly higher than the work we did with Interlace Health,” shared Alan Duke, Document Management Administrator from Skagit Regional Health. 

Given the value to patient care by capturing information through assessments, digitizing the process to eliminate errors, standardizing workflows, and ensuring proper indexing into the EHR is vital. Working with Interlace Health, you can create new assessments or convert existing paper assessments into EHR-compatible tools.

For more information on how to create assessments or other form-based workflows at your health system, contact us.  

 

 

About the Author:

Patricia Clarkson is the Director of Customer Success Management at Interlace Health. With over 20 years of technology experience as a customer advocate, she has a propensity for building long-term relationships. Her team regularly interacts with customers, guiding adoption and expansion while expediting their time-to-value. Patricia delights in increasing her customers’ success and thrives on helping them achieve their desired results with their Interlace Health solutions. With a 97.4% customer retention rate, there are loads of successful customers to celebrate! Connect with Patricia on LinkedIn.

 

Download eBook: How Healthcare Teams Can Leverage Digitized Forms

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The Crucial Role of Internal Alignment in Successful Technology Partnerships

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As cliché as this may sound, in today’s rapidly evolving digital landscape, technology partnerships are not just beneficial; they are essential for businesses seeking to stay competitive and innovative.   It is the fusion of expertise and resources from different entities that helps spark and drive technological advancements, many of which end up redefining market standards and user experiences.

However, the linchpin for the success of any technology partnership lies in the often-overlooked factor of internal alignment.  More often than not companies fail to recognize the importance of ensuring congruence within an organization before embarking on external collaborations.

 

Why Internal Alignment Matters

When considering a technology partnership, it is imperative that an organization has a clear and unified vision.   As Alex Larralde stated, “The key to organizational alignment is uniting the workforce behind a shared vision” (How to Achieve Organizational Alignment).

Without a concerted direction, partnerships are at risk of becoming disjointed endeavors that dissipate energy and resources, rather than concentrating them toward a common goal. Internal alignment sets the foundation for partnership success in several keyways:

Strategic Cohesion: To make strategic decisions, it’s essential that all internal stakeholders understand and agree upon the desired outcomes especially when it comes to the purpose of a desired partnership.   Ensuring organizational alignment is the first step in successful execution of any strategic initiative.

 

“Best of intentions, but incapable: Companies that score highly on the purpose and strategy alignment scale, but low on the strategy and organization scale, are more or less incapable of implementing their strategy as intended” (Trevor & Varcoe, HBR Strategy Execution:  A Simple Way to Test Your Company’s Strategic Alignment)

 

  • Optimized Resource Allocation: By having departmental goals and resources aligned internally, organizations can efficiently allocate what is necessary for the partnership without redundancy or conflict, ensuring that all participating teams are contributing effectively.
  • Unified Communication: A consistent message across all levels of the organization not only strengthens the internal resolve but also sends a coherent signal to potential and existing partners. Unified communication prevents misunderstandings and aligns expectations, smoothing the flow of the partnership.
  • Cultural Synergy: The alignment extends beyond strategies and communication; it encompasses company culture as well. When an organization’s culture is primed for collaboration and open innovation, it is more likely to foster a positive and productive relationship with its technology partners.  A perfect example of successful cultural alignment would be the partnership between Nike and Apple.  “Both companies share a focus on innovation, design, and performance which resulted in the successful collaboration of Nike+iPod,” (Strategic Partnerships:  The Power of Synergy: Scaling Business through Strategic Partnerships).

 

The Underpinnings of Internal Alignment

Creating internal alignment is not an instinctive process; it requires deliberate actions:

  • Establish a cross-functional steering committee to oversee partnership initiatives and ensure that various departments are in sync.
  • Clearly define the roles and responsibilities within the organization for managing and nurturing the partnership, eliminating the silos that often hinder collaborative efforts.
  • Develop a set of shared objectives and key performance indicators that resonate with various departments and stakeholders.
  • Engage in regular, open discussions within the organization to maintain alignment and adjust to new insights or market changes.

A technology partnership can be a powerful catalyst for growth, but the prerequisite is having an organization internally aligned and prepared to harness the full potential of such a collaboration. By investing the time and resources necessary to cultivate internal congruity, companies will not only maximize their partnership outcomes but will also strengthen their internal operations, setting the stage for sustained success in a technology-driven future.

 

 

About the Author:

Kristin Shores is a results-driven Strategic Partner Executive with a proven track record of cultivating and nurturing high-value partnerships that drive business growth and innovation. With over a decade of experience in the field, Kristin’s expertise lies at the intersection of relationship-building, strategic planning, and business development. As a strategic thinker, Kristin leverages her comprehensive knowledge of market trends and emerging technologies to craft innovative partnership strategies that position her organizations at the forefront of their respective industries. Her ability to adapt to evolving market landscapes and pivot with agility has been instrumental in delivering sustainable growth.  Connect with Kristin on LinkedIn. 

 

Contact Kristin to learn more about Interlace Health’s Partnership Program: kshores@interlacehealth.com

 

 

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