SUCCESS STORY: War Memorial Hospital

[vc_row parallax_image=””][vc_column width=”1/2″][nz_btn text=”Download Case Study” link=”https://interlacehealth.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/War-Memorial-Case-Study.pdf” target=”_blank” size=”medium”][nz_gap][vc_column_text]

Long-time customer expands FormFast to ambulatory locations to standardize form processes, deliver cost and time-saving benefits, and promote patient safety. 

[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][vc_column width=”1/2″][vc_single_image image=”15271″ img_size=”full”][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row parallax_image=””][vc_column][vc_column_text]A FormFast customer since 1999, War Memorial Hospital’s growing success with FormFast has proven to the health system the effectiveness of a dedicated electronic forms solution. FormFast has had a direct impact on the organization’s top strategic objectives, such as patient safety, compliance, operational efficiency, and cost savings.

FormFast provides War Memorial Hospital with eSignature, Web FormImprint, FastPrint, and Financial/Check Printing solutions. As their relationship with FormFast continues to grow, they report they are continually doing more with less and highlight patient identification and standardization as core benefits.

War Memorial’s eight registration stations and their emergency departments leverage FormFast eSignature. eSignature has provided the hospital with a convenient, paperless alternative to paper-based consents.

The hospital leverages Web FormImprint for several critical processes, such as managing their radiology requisition forms. This has moved the organization away from reliance on pre-printed forms, as they can now produce patient-specific documentation on-demand.

With FastPrint, output management is simplified for War Memorial as pre-defined logic and criteria automatically print forms and wristbands with barcodes for archiving. Additionally, FastPrint automates the printing of checks and other financial statements for War Memorial.

THE PROBLEM: Form Management in the Ambulatory Environment

In realizing the value FormFast brings to their hospital enterprise, War Memorial became aware of the fact that in comparison to their hospital, their ambulatory locations were lacking standardization in their form management processes.

War Memorial’s outpatient clinics managed a growing number of paper documents that needed to be standardized, i.e. patient questionnaires and test results. Lacking the efficiency FormFast brings, War Memorial’s clinic staff wanted to experience the same standardization and operational benefits as their hospital.

War Memorial saw the need to improve patient identification, eliminate errors and delays, and gain the same confidence their hospital staff had that with every patient visit the right forms were provided, properly completed, and archived.

THE SOLUTION: Expanding FormFast to War Memorial Clinics

After seeing immense success with FormFast at their hospital location, and to complement their MEDITECH 6.1 implementation, War Memorial extended FormFast FastPrint, eSignature, and Web FormImprint to 22 of their clinics.

“It was a natural fit after our past success with FormFast to expand the use of the technology to our clinics. FormFast is the perfect combination of patient safety and proper record keeping. Having barcoded patient identifiers on the forms is a game-changer. The forms are accurate, our records are accurate, and this all leads to better documentation of care and all-around better delivery of care,” said Katie Wood, Assistant Director of Information Systems at War Memorial.

A dedicated eForms solution at War Memorial’s clinics allows for healthcare forms to be generated on-demand, complete with both patient and document barcodes.  Therefore, forms can be scanned directly into the EHR, MEDITECH, from the point-of-service. War Memorial can now ensure that healthcare forms completed in the ambulatory setting are properly completed, stored, and archived – every time.

“Being able to print those questionnaires with the patient identifiers on them is huge as far as efficiency for the people preparing the papers and for scanning,” said Wood. “It’s way easier to click the button and print some forms than it is to break out your pen and write it on page one of eight, page two of eight, page three. For our staff that process the paperwork, they no longer have to handwrite on every form. The forms not only look great, but FormFast is a timesaver and a wrist saver.”

The clinics have been extremely receptive to FormFast technology, they appreciate the user-friendly interface, straight forward process, and seamless MEDITECH integration.

“The customer service provided by FormFast has been phenomenal. When we have a question, we get the answer we need in a timely matter. The same has been true in our recent efforts to implement FormFast to our ambulatory environments,” said Wood.

War Memorial’s staff continues to refine their workflow to accommodate the new technology into their reception process, and is looking forward to their goal of having all of their clinics standardized on FormFast by the end of 2018.

Raising the Patient Safety Bar(code)

With FormFast, War Memorial now has more efficient and reliable processes in place. FormFast’s solutions give War Memorial’s staff access to the most current versions of specific form templates, promoting improved compliance, and reducing obsolescence.

FormFast has not only fulfilled the hospital’s goals for creating a standardized process, complete with legible, well-designed forms, it also gives them the capability of placing a barcode on each sheet of the patient record.

“In our clinics, we love the fact that it can print patient information right there on the form. It’s accurate, legible, and looks far more uniform and professional,” said Angie Love, Quality Compliance Assistant at War Memorial Hospital.

In War Memorial’s community, they have found there have been several patients with the exact same name. FormFast brings the demographic information needed on forms to ensure patient identity in these situations.

“FormFast is the perfect combination of patient safety and proper record keeping. Having barcoded patient identifiers on the forms is a game-changer. The forms are accurate, our records are accurate, and this all leads to better documentation of care and all-around better delivery of care,” said Wood.

FormFast removes the element of human error and the risks that come from poor document legibility.

“Patient identification and the barcode capabilities FormFast provides was a huge driver of our effort to expand our relationship with FormFast. FormFast, of course, brings the benefit to be more efficient and get the time back, especially in these days of doing more with less in healthcare. But, if you can ensure proper patient identification, it’s safer for the patient and it’s more efficient in the long run. FormFast has done just that for War Memorial,” said Wood.

FORMFAST + MEDITECH: A Winning Combination

FormFast interfaces with MEDITECH solutions making it easy for any healthcare organization to convert existing paper documents into electronic forms complete with barcodes and form identifiers.

“The level of integration between FormFast and MEDITECH has created a seamless experience for our end-users, which has led to a successful adoption rate. The technologies enhance the use of each system. In fact, our users don’t even realize they’re using functionality outside of MEDITECH when leveraging FormFast – and that is the real goal of interoperability,” said Wood.

FormFast’s electronic signature technology interfaces with MEDITECH systems to sign and annotate forms electronically. The flexibility of e-signing allows for War Memorial’s forms to be archived right away – eliminating the need to print, sign, scan, etc.

LOOKING TO THE FUTURE: Growing with FormFast

Due to the benefits realized at War Memorial hospital and at the clinics, War Memorial plans to expand their relationship with FormFast in the future.

“After 19 years as a FormFast customer, we continue to have a positive partnership, and we look forward to adding new FormFast solutions that benefit War Memorial Hospital, our clinics, and beyond,” said Sandy DePlonty, Sr. Director of Clinical Services.

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