When Bill Overbey added the title of CIO to his already full plate as CFO at Hays Medical in Hays, Kansas, he viewed this as an advantage for himself and the hospital. Not only was Overbey charged with locating ways the hospital can be more efficient, but now he was also responsible for implementing methods and technologies to supply those efficiencies. As a CIO, he knew the benefits technology could offer and as a CFO he was aware of the ROI he would obtain down the line by implementing technology that would tackle his issues.
Today, CFOs are accountable for more than just accounting. They are also accountable for the growth and triumphs of the business. They are change agents who challenge the status quo, understand trends, question business models and help move the organization forward while driving efficiencies. Likewise, CIOs are also responsible for the success of a business. Today, they look beyond their department to understand how technology will affect the overall business. More and more, they are using technology not only to improve logistics but to reduce costs and supply efficiency through the adoption of IT.
After experimenting with simple scripting software Overbey had downloaded off the Internet, he realized the benefits scripting had to offer for workflow automation and
systems integration. Bill and his IT staff agreed that they needed a tool hat would go
beyond what they currently had. In this search, Overbey found Boston WorkStation from Boston Software Systems, an development tool that creates operational efficiencies. Bill's motto became "We can script that, can't we?"
Streamlining the Billing Process
One of Overbey's priorities was to streamline the billing process for billing and clinical departments. Like many hospitals, Hays Medical's billing process was a nightmare. Each month, finance had to create a new account number for each file in order to separate services and to bill them as required. This created several challenges for the clinical side. Not only did they have to start off with a new account number each month, but they also had to verify that the charges were posted to the right account number. In addition, the clinical side required that each patient visit be documented using the correct new account number. Keeping track of the correct account number and documenting patient visits was a challenge.
As CFO, Bill knew the billing process needed to be resolved, and as CIO he knew just the right way to do it. He instructed his IT staff to use Boston WorkStation to tackle this problem. Boston WorkStation is a workflow automation and integration technology that provides an environment for on-demand process innovation and development. Boston WorkStation allows healthcare organizations to automate common tasks, create complex processes, automate interaction with websites, or integrate new applications, systems and devices.
The scripts developed using Boston WorkStation create a new billing account number each month and simply move the data from the clinical side over to the billing side, allowing for a constant clinical account number to be available for the medical staff to use and document.
This eliminates the manual monthly rituals of re-assigning new account numbers to all of the paperwork, ensures more accurate billing and puts staff to better use within the hospital.
Prior to using Boston WorkStation, the billing side had a number of issues with wrong charges on wrong accounts. Staff wasted time reviewing each account, which could involve moving charges from one account to another when there were errors. Now, using Boston WorkStation, this time-consuming task is eliminated. A script pulls the right charges, and leaves the staff available to handle more pressing issues concerning patient care, making it a more efficient process. "We have solved a variety of issues by doing these monthly scripts," said Overbey. "The catalyst for the change we made was really on the billing side, but it helps the clinical immensely."
Automating the Down Time Reports
Another priority for Overbey and his team was to implement a disaster recovery plan for the Hays' MEDITECH system.
As with any business, a hospital must prepare for the worst. Not doing so can result in horrible consequences and can delay the process of returning the business to normal operation. Preparing for the worst can be a costly and time-consuming task. Yet, most health organizations are reluctant to spend capital on disaster recovery because of the high costs and expensive IT systems.
Fortunately, Overbey realized that he could use Boston WorkStation as the backbone of Hays' disaster recovery plan for a minimum investment.
Using Boston WorkStation, Overbey and his team developed a script that would print all critical patient data for the nursing staff within a 15-minute cycle to a shared server. Then, they automated the down time reports and notifications to the IT department. This approach notifies the IT staff to immediately implement availability to the shared drive that holds the reports allowing the nursing staff to have the latest patient data right at their finger tips at all times.
"Scripting has saved us time and money," said Overbey. "If you had to allocate money to manually creating efficiencies, you probably wouldn't do it. It just takes too much time, too much money and too much manpower, to accomplish it. Fortunately, developing scripts doesn't take much time, and it creates operational efficiencies throughout the entire hospital. One significant benefit is a more productive and happy workforce, which translates to a higher quality of care in all facets of the organization."
For more information about Boston WorkStation, visit www.bostonworkstation.com or call 866.653.5105.
