SYSTEM OPTIMIZATION

Many hospitals find after some years on the MEDITECH HCIS they may not be taking full advantage of the system capabilities. Often with staff turnover, some user knowledge is not transferred or with other distractions, your organization may not have taken advantage of new updates and features. Typically with any sizeable implementation effort, and for many justifiable reasons, there were decisions made limiting the initial project scope. As a result, there are often features or functions that may have been deferred. In addition, changes in an organization's business objectives as well as workflow and process changes may require a new approach. New technologies or standards also offer opportunities that were not available previously.

Optimization efforts can require minimal time and effort, and allow organizations to see benefits in the patient experience, care and satisfaction, through information technology. Also changes in technologies, such as new tools or standards, or an ability to automate processes, can help an organization be more efficient. As a result it makes business sense to occasionally step back and evaluate how your system was implemented and if there are opportunities to optimize the system to better meet your objectives.

First of all, we would recommend you consider contacting MEDITECH and requesting an operational audit.  MEDITECH provides these services as part of your maintenance agreement and generally does an excellent job with identifying under-utilized capabilities as well as sub-optimal system building.  However, if you find that your hospital needs outside assistance to facilitate workflow re-design or re-implementation, Navin, Haffty & Associates brings some of the most experienced consultants in the industry to assist with optimizing your MEDITECH HCIS.  We will work with your team to make recommendations and implement the changes to successfully meet your objectives, regaining the value of your MEDITECH investment.

Navin, Haffty & Associates has had particular success with some of the following:

LABORATORY - Often there is not enough time to focus on all features of the LIS during the initial implementation. It can be worthwhile to revisit system use and compare the use of the system to how your laboratory services may have changed; reviewing laboratory, microbiology, blood bank, pathology and outreach. Experienced consultants will review system use, provide recommendations to improve processes and share information about the newest application features to improve efficiency and communication with other departments.

SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT - Effective supply chain management can impact financial performance.  Our consultants have operational and IT experience to help you optimize MEDITECH and efficiently manage inventories.

CLINICAL DOCUMENTATION - As MEDITECH has enhanced their Patient Care System (PCS) and Nursing (NUR) modules over the years, we have found many hospitals need to re-build and re-implement these applications. We assist with this process from identifying and defining clinical documentation strategy and approach, building inter-disciplinary teams, involving physicians in anticipation of their using this data and ensuring that MEDITECH newest features and capabilities are known to the project team. Our PCS and NUR experts can assist with hands-on system building and user training.

OPERATING ROOM MANAGEMENT - This suite is often implemented in phases. We can assist you in reviewing what is working well, ensuring all revenue is being captured and implementing functionality that may not be in use or needs to be reworked to make processes more efficient. Further, we can maximize the integration with the MEDITECH Materials Management application to optimally control inventory, and capture supply charges.

PHARMACY - Processing of medication orders is changing dramatically as orders are being entered into the system by clinicians and physicians, and administered utilizing automated verification. These changes require pharmacy workflow and procedure changes. As you prepare to implement electronic medication administration records (eMARs) and computerized physician order entry (CPOE), we are prepared to assist you evaluate your current processes and implement new enhancements in the pharmacy application to meet these objectives. In addition, there can be benefit in reviewing processes already in place to ensure you are charging appropriately and using best practices.

REVENUE CYCLE IMPROVEMENT - Our expertise with both workflow processes and MEDITECH system functionality is what keeps us the industry leader in optimizing MEDITECH hospital revenue cycle initiatives. From a patients first exposure into the facility at the time of scheduling through claims adjudication, our consultants work with your organization to develop optimal policies and procedures, testing, training and reporting materials.

The revenue cycle is impacted by almost every department within a hospital. Assessing how accurate patient and account identification, proper and timely charge capture , compliance with federal, state and payor requirements, timely and complete billing and claim submission, prompt cash posting occurs throughout the organization is phase one of our approach. We utilize our revenue cycle tools to identify and develop optimal workflow processes and identify functionality within the MEDITECH system that can be maximized to meet the organizations objective of improving the revenue cycle.

Organizations often struggle to provide all the supporting data necessary for department heads to take an active role in managing their revenue cycle responsibilities. By developing strong management reporting tools to identify areas of opportunities, NHA was been extremely successful in supporting hospitals initiatives to reduce bad debt, increase up-front cash collections and reduce rejections and denials.

REPORTING - Custom reports can streamline processes and tedious data collection. Experienced report writers and programmers are available to assist with report development through NPR or Data Repository.