external surgeons' offices, but we send out secure e-mails to each.
Online admissions
Our results have been impressive, with double-digit reductions in the
incidence of missing H&Ps, consults, consents and EKGs. But the best
evidence that it's made our workflow more efficient is that our patients
have on average been arriving in the ORs 20 minutes earlier.
When we shopped around for our next EMR, we asked the vendors'
reps how their products might help solve the snags we identified dur-
ing our review. We recommend finding out what doesn't work in your
charting process before taking it electronic.
In the future, we hope to create a virtual registration process in
which patients complete their medical histories online, entering all
demographic and insurance information. Insurance verification would
occur behind the scenes and communications would be sent to
patients with their expected deductible and/or co-insurance. They'd
then be prompted to either make a payment or set up a payment plan
electronically. All of the other forms that we ask patients to sign or
acknowledge on the day of surgery would be reviewed and acknowl-
edged online. Mobile messages would direct patients as to what
actions they need to take and when, and would tell them when to
arrive. On the day of surgery, they'd be greeted by a member of the
clinical staff.
OSM
M A Y 2 0 1 6 • O U T PA T I E N TS U R G E R Y. N E T • 1 1 3
Ms. Burns (karen.burns@peninsula.org) is a clinical manager and Mr.
Conklin (edward.conklin@peninsula.org) is the central processing man-
ager at Peninsula Regional Medical Center in Salisbury, Md.
