Posted on behalf of Marianne Soucy, Director of Client Solutions
I always enjoy getting to talk with customers about how our products have impacted their workflow once the dust has settled and things are running as intended. We strive to make sure the products are performing as expected, of course, but it makes our day to hear about added bonuses the customer did NOT expect.
Earlier this year at HIMSS, I was approached by a stakeholder in a workflow we had built for a customer last year. He sought us out at our booth to give kudos to the hard work of the engineers on the project (always appreciated!) for the smooth implementation.
The client was very pleased with the outcome. The clinic, however, shared some additional information that I was pleased to pass back to our client on how their software investment actually impacted their bottom line.
This project involved taking electronic Radiology orders from an area clinic (the stakeholder) and integrating them with our customer’s Meditech using our product Provider Exchange. The results were then returned to the stakeholder electronically. Previously this had been accomplished in a paper world of faxes and phone calls, which was prone to delays and mishaps as well as being labor intensive. Specifically, ensuring the right results were attached to the right order/patient was an issue in a demographic where a lot of patient names are unusually similar. In an electronic exchange, the matching is 100% accurate as they are tied by identifiers beyond just name.
Our client is one of two larger hospitals in the service area of this clinic. Previously, for the type of orders we are discussing, the clinic had sent a higher percentage of referral patients to the other hospital, simply due to logistics, demographics, and familiarity. However, with this new workflow going so well, it became far easier for them to refer patients to our client. The patients had a higher satisfaction rate, tests were ordered and resulted seamlessly, and in his words “It just worked the way it was supposed to, all the time!”
When asked, he said he would guess that the percentage of patient referrals he sent out prior to this project was probably 25%/75% favoring the other hospital. He said he would guess now 90% of their referrals now go to our client for this type of test.
We are very proud of how the work we do improves the efficiency and outcomes of our client hospitals. Labor savings and accuracy are where we focus discussion about ROI of our products, but in this case, I would estimate that the client easily made back what they spent on our software in sheer referral business increase. It’s always worth considering if a more efficient workflow will not only save on costs on the back end of a process, but might increase the capabilities to generate more revenue on the front end as well!
