CUSTOMER GROWTH: West Virginia United Health System, Inc
/in Customer Announcements, News, News and Events /by Lauren ZieglerWVU Adds Interlace Health Forms on Demand to 4 Additional Facilities
Interlace Health Counts Down to HIMSS21
/in Blog, Insights, News and Events, Thought Leadership /by Lauren ZieglerHIMSS21 is right around the corner. Are you as excited as we are? After all this time, it’s going to be great to see so many friends and colleagues face-to-face!
The Interlace Health team is heading to Las Vegas August 9-13 for the health IT industry’s most-anticipated event of the year! The “Be the Change” theme this year is fitting as we re-emerge into a world that has forever changed the delivery of healthcare.
We asked a few members of our Interlace Health team going to HIMSS21 to expand on what this year’s conference, under these anything but ordinary circumstances, means to them. Here is what they had to say …
HIMSS has selected the theme “Be the Change” for this year’s event. What does this mean to you?
Maggie Peña, Vice President of Client Services
“If we learned anything from the pandemic was that everything can change in an instant. In healthcare, this brought a sense of urgency and hospitals had to rapidly change how they provided care to patients. Some were forced to quickly execute on changes they had been planning for many years. What this means for Interlace Health, is that we will continue to be part of that change by helping our customers implement electronic solutions as they enhance processes and workflows.”
Ann Hill, Solution Architect
“To me, this means making a commitment to act in a way that will bring about change instead of waiting for others to. It means thinking about ways in which you can empower yourself and those around you to advocate for the change you believe in. In the context of HIMSS, I think it means highlighting change makers that are forging new paths in the wake of the pandemic.”
Chris Link, Research & Insights Manager
“This year’s theme covers a lot of ground. I have been watching and analyzing healthcare trends for over half a decade and within the last several years many of the trends I’ve observed, and experienced, have begun accelerating. But the core idea of “change” in healthcare has come to mean a lot of things. One massive change is how much health equity and treating social determinants of health (SDOH) as part of health care continues to be embraced my healthcare providers, payers, and vendors. There is a real sense in my mind that we have decided to tackle this problem and make healthcare better for people, rather than just pointing ourselves in the direction of the Triple Aim. Another big change is that digital healthcare is being seen as a tactic to support patient-centered healthcare strategies. The industry spent years considering digital strategies, but we’re finally understanding that digital and virtual technologies enable us to improve and enhance workflows in the administrative and clinical settings to lead to a better patient experience. There are more to discuss, but those are the two big changes we should be excited to be a part of.”
Anything specific you will be looking out for in Las Vegas?
Ashley Sonn, Vice President of Marketing
“HIMSS is always an exciting show to be a part of and attend. I am most looking forward to connecting with colleagues – new and old – and talking with our fellow Interlace Health customers in attendance. I also am interested to see how HIMSS21 exhibitors have adapted their strategic presence this year at the conference.”
Maggie Peña, Vice President of Client Services
“How did the pandemic change (or not) patient/customer engagement? New ways to engage with patients/customers. Any new trends or upcoming changes in the healthcare industry as a result of the pandemic.”
Dessiree Paoli, Sr. Manager, Solution Marketing
“We have all been so isolated these past 18 months. It will be nice to interact with colleagues who have been living through, and navigating through the same experiences. I am looking forward to networking and hearing from others, learning about the challenges they faced and how they navigated through them. I would love to come back with 2-3 new ideas or strategies for how to support healthcare organizations and do my job better.”
What topics/ themes do you think will take center stage?
Chris Link, Research and Insights Manager
“I imagine we’ll hear a lot about disruption, digital healthcare innovation and investment, consumer-center care, healthcare equity, and SDOH. I also think there will be a strong focus on automation and process improvement, but it’ll be dressed up with popular terms like RPI, AI, and machine learning.”
Dessiree Paoli, Sr. Manager, Solution Marketing
“I think ‘life after the pandemic’ and the massive changes that occurred as a result of the last 18 months will be a leading topic. Digital front doors, interoperability, and optimizing EHRs – will also be popular topics – tied into being more efficient with time and resources.”
Ellie Silver, Solution Architect
“Based on today’s healthcare trends, I think cybersecurity, population health, care from the patients’ perspective, using data and AI to improve patient outcomes, and of course interoperability and innovation will be highly discussed topics this year.”
Are there any speaking sessions, educational sessions that are a “can’t-miss” event for you this year?
Ashley Sonn, VP of Marketing
“The Interoperability Showcase is the can’t miss area of every HIMSS every year! There all content and presentations must tie to Interoperability which is an on-going challenge for healthcare organizations of all sizes. Real case studies and hands-on applications of how interoperability is achieved is where it’s at.”
Ann Hill, Solution Architect
“A few sessions I have on my list, include: Opening Keynote: Early lessons from a Global Pandemic Keynote: A Bias Toward Action – A Young Innovator’s Message; Interop Showcase: Rethink Forms, Think Connected Data: 3 CIO Strategies for EHR Optimization; and Interop Showcase: Building the Foundation for Interoperability with APIs.”
Ellie Silver, Solution Architect
“I am looking forward to Health via Extended Reality: Use Case in Sports Medicine on Tuesday at 4 pm. I am curious to learn more about Extended Reality.”
We are looking forward to sharing our latest ideas and case studies about simplifying patient intake, informed consent, downtime, and more at HIMSS21. Here’s a preview of everything we have in store.
We want to make sure there are plenty of opportunities for us to connect while we’re in Vegas so please plan to attend one of our presentations or activities.
- Rethink Forms, Think Connected Data: 3 CIO Strategies for EHR Optimization— our session at the Interoperability Showcase on Wednesday, featuring King’s Daughters Medical Center CIO Carl Smith.
- The CIO Summit: a private gathering of senior IT executives for building relationships, addressing key challenges in care delivery, and accelerating digital transformation. We are a proud supporter!
- The opportunity to connect 1:1! Of course, if you would like to set aside some time to go more in-depth about your needs and how we can help, we would be happy to schedule a one-on-one meeting during the conference. Fill out our form to schedule a meeting with us in Las Vegas!
We hope to see you in Las Vegas! Reach out and let us know what you are most looking forward to at HIMSS21!
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Over the past five years, Lauren Ziegler has been a member of Interlace Health’s Marketing team, coordinating and executing marketing communication initiatives, such as copywriting and content management, public and media relations, social media, and corporate communications. She has over a decade of experience in working with technology companies. 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.
CUSTOMER GROWTH: Summit Pacific Medical Center
/in Customer Announcements, News, News and Events /by Lauren ZieglerSummit Pacific Medical Center Expands Use of Interlace Health with Go App
Current Interlace Health customer, Summit Pacific is a vibrant and expanding public hospital district that operates a Critical Access Hospital with a level IV trauma designation, two rural healthcare clinics and a seven day a week urgent care clinic.
The hospital will add Interlace Health’s Go App to enhance their MEDITECH environment. Interlace Health Go enables healthcare forms to be electronically displayed, completed, and e-signed via a mobile tablet at the point-of-care. Leveraging patient wristband scanning technology, the mobile app generates the right documents for the right patient in seconds. Upon completion, forms are instantly added to the EHR, eliminating the need to archive the documents manually.
CUSTOMER GROWTH: Northumberland Hills Hospital (NHH)
/in Customer Announcements, News, News and Events /by Lauren ZieglerNorthumberland Hills Hospital (NHH) Expands Web FormImprint at Health System
Located approximately 100 kilometres east of Toronto, Northumberland Hills Hospital (NHH) delivers a broad range of acute, post-acute, outpatient and diagnostic services. Acute services include emergency and intensive care, medical/surgical care, obstetrical care and palliative care. Post-acute services include restorative care and rehabilitation. Mental health care, chemotherapy, dialysis and 16 other ambulatory care clinics are offered at NHH on an outpatient basis through partnerships with regional centres and nearby specialists. NHH offers a full range of diagnostic services, including magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), computed tomography (CT) and mammography.
The Epic hospital is expanding Interlace Health Web FormImprint at their organization to complement their Epic environment.
CUSTOMER GROWTH: Boone County Hospital
/in Customer Announcements, News, News and Events /by Lauren ZieglerBoone County Hospital Adds Interlace Health eConsent Solution
Boone County Hospital (BCH) is a 25-bed critical access hospital. They own four physicians clinics-Boone County Family Medicine (BCFM) North, BCFM South, BCFM Ogden and the Madrid Family Practice Clinic, as well as the BCFM Walk-in Clinic, Home Care Services/Public Health and F. William Beckwith Adult Day Services.
The current Interlace Health customer is adding Interlace Health’s eConsent solution to enhance the hospital’s MEDITECH environment.
CUSTOMER GROWTH: Singing River Health System
/in Customer Announcements, News, News and Events /by Lauren ZieglerSinging River Health System expands Interlace Health footprint by growing use of Interlace Health Go App and Interlace Health Capture throughout the health system
Long-time Interlace Health customer, Singing River Health System is both a mission-driven provider of health services and one of the largest employers on the Mississippi Gulf Coast.
The hospital will expand their use of the Interlace Health Go App and Capture product throughout their health system.
How Digital Healthcare Solutions Increase Staff Safety
/in Blog, Insights, News and Events, Thought Leadership /by Lauren ZieglerHealthcare organizations have spent the past year adapting and transforming — with technology playing a major role. Providers everywhere have seen the power of digital healthcare solutions and are now implementing them to strengthen operations.
Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, healthcare providers have worked to limit the spread of the virus and keep both staff members and patients safe. Given how easily the virus can spread through contact with contaminated surfaces, especially in places like hospitals and doctor’s offices, it has been imperative to protect people and minimize exposure.
Technology made that possible. Digital solutions like electronic informed consent and eSignature help healthcare providers limit the risk of staff members and patients coming into contact with contaminated surfaces.
The more healthcare providers implement solutions like this, the safer and better healthcare becomes. These solutions enable providers to gather necessary information, register patients safely, and transmit information electronically, all without the need for direct contact. They also reduce the time patients spend in waiting rooms with staff and, as a result, limit the risk of the virus spreading in those environments.
The Benefits of Informed Consent and eSignature
While many digital solutions can greatly impact healthcare, informed consent and eSignature solutions, specifically, provide the following benefits to both staff and patients. They ensure that electronic forms are:
1. Filled out and archived.
Electronic consent forms and eSignature create quick and seamless workflows. Healthcare providers can easily generate the forms they need by scanning a barcode on a wristband or finding it in the on-demand form library. These forms can then auto-populate and pre-fill certain content, sometimes even via speech-to-text functionality.
When patients sign consent forms using eSignature, their forms are temporarily stored, saved, and ready for additional clinician signatures. Incomplete forms remain easily accessible to ensure they’re reviewed and completed on time before a procedure. Once forms are completed and all signatures are captured, the documents are instantly saved to the EHR.
2. Compliant and complete.
Compliance is a critical part of healthcare, and ensuring that forms are compliant is a critical part of the process. Our Informed Consent and eSignature solutions ensure that forms meet all regulatory requirements — and in a way that’s easy to understand.
Forms using eSignature are always legible (because they require no handwritten information), collect all necessary details, ensure patient education, and meet all CMS guidelines as well as state, local, and organizational requirements. All signatures are also time-stamped, recording the date and time every consent took place.
3. Convenient and reliable.
eSignature capabilities and electronic informed consent have completely changed the way hospitals and health systems collect, store, and use information. Clinicians can collect electronic signatures from anywhere — at a patient’s bedside or from that patient’s home. Even more, the signatures are immediately available to the care team anywhere, anytime, and on any device.
This technology keeps patient signatures and consents from getting lost. It ensures forms are easily accessible and readily available on the day of a procedure. Healthcare organizations that rely on paper forms must contend with lost or misplaced paperwork, incorrectly filed information, and manual entry. With informed consent and eSignature, healthcare organizations know that paperwork will be ready whenever and wherever they need it.
At Interlace Health, we transform workflows with our digital solutions. If you’re ready to implement these solutions in your organization today, click here to learn more.
NEW CUSTOMER: Beacon Health System
/in Customer Announcements, News, News and Events /by Lauren ZieglerBeacon Health System Extends Interlace Health Forms on Demand Solution to 77 Clinics
Beacon Health System is the largest, locally owned and operated non-profit health care system in the region. Beacon Children’s Hospital, Beacon Granger Hospital, Community Hospital of Bremen, Elkhart General Hospital, Epworth Hospital, Franciscan Beacon Hospital, Memorial Hospital of South Bend, Three Rivers Health, Beacon Medical Group, Memorial Family Medicine Residency Program, Beacon Health Foundation and Beacon Health & Fitness are powered by nearly 8,000 associates and over 1,000 physicians and providers.
The hospital is expanding the use of Forms on Demand to their 77 clinic locations to complement their Cerner Environment and bring standardization across clinics and hospitals.
The Digital Front Door and Convenience in Care
/in Blog, Insights, News and Events, Thought Leadership /by Lauren ZieglerPatients increasingly are being asked to take on more responsibility for their healthcare. Complex information, confusing billing, and high-deductible health plans can make seeking and receiving that care difficult. Luckily, healthcare organizations have the power to help patients navigate all of this by adopting a digital-first mindset.
People can do just about anything they want with the help of their phones, computers, and devices. The same rule should apply to healthcare. Interacting with patients through technology — texting, mobile-friendly sites, and apps — gives them a level of control over an otherwise confusing process while increasing engagement with providers. It also helps healthcare providers improve efficiency within their organizations, more evenly distribute resources, and reduce costs.
Unfortunately, it can be overwhelming or difficult to adopt a digital-first mindset and open the “digital front door” to patients — especially patients in certain circumstances. Many rural areas of the country and underserved communities, for instance, still don’t have consistent access to Wi-Fi, which is needed to support digital interactions with healthcare providers. And even if they do have access, some patients might still struggle to communicate and operate digitally.
Opening the digital front door in healthcare isn’t usually the biggest challenge — reaching patients through that door is.
Why the Benefits Outweigh the Challenges
The advantages of digital healthcare far outnumber any barriers to it. It’s one of the best ways to reach and serve patients in even the most underserved, unreachable communities and one of the best ways of improving operational efficiency in healthcare organizations.
The impact of technology in healthcare has been great, with tools like telehealth solutions offering patients more engaging and convenient care. If we can reach people in remote communities, virtual care increases their access to quality care — access they don’t easily have if they have to travel to appointments physically. This can result in better appointment attendance and improved clinical outcomes.
Digital solutions also help health systems streamline operations. If patients can complete paperwork before their appointments, it saves staff members time and eliminates the need to sort through paperwork while patients sit in a waiting room.
Further, encouraging patients to use wearable and remote monitoring technology leads to less manual data collection for patients and staff members. When patients can more easily access their data, they can engage with it more. And when doctors and nurses have better access to that data, they can provide better, more efficient, and more personalized care.
How Tech Tools Can Transform Healthcare
With the overarching benefits of adopting digital-first practices and opening the digital front door in healthcare in mind, here are three areas in which technology can cut through bottlenecks in healthcare delivery:
1. Long wait times at appointments.
Appointment wait times are a common bottleneck in healthcare. Physicians might be free and ready to see a patient upon arrival, but that patient could be stuck filling out paperwork in the waiting room for 15 minutes, delaying the entire process. Using digital solutions that enable patients to fill out paperwork from their devices before an appointment eliminates this slowdown.
2. Surgical delays.
Every time a patient needs surgery or a procedure, they have to fill out a consent form and acknowledge that they agree to receive treatment. But lost or misplaced patient consent forms can cause surgeries to be delayed or postponed, impacting schedules for the surgical department — and revenue. Offering electronic consent forms consolidates the process to a central location, eliminating any risk that those forms are lost or misplaced.
3. Form management.
On the note of lost or misplaced forms, digital solutions can prevent health systems from needing to reach out to patients after appointments to recollect information. When forms exist only on paper, there’s no way to ensure that the most up-to-date information is being used. Having a digital repository of all forms, however, eliminates manual processes and reduces errors.
At Interlace Health, we are committed to offering digital solutions that help healthcare providers open the digital front door. To learn more about our solutions, contact us today.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Over the past five years, Lauren Ziegler has been a member of Interlace Health’s Marketing team, coordinating and executing marketing communication initiatives, such as copywriting and content management, public and media relations, social media, and corporate communications. She has over a decade of experience in working with technology companies. 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.
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About Us
Interlace Health is a solutions company. We transform workflows by enabling seamless data capture and information exchange among providers, staff, and patients. Our clients increase operational efficiencies, reduce overhead, and improve staff and patient satisfaction.We are proud to be a member of the healthcare technology industry’s leading organizations.