Hopkins County Memorial Hospital Boosts Patient Care, Service with Access Intelligent Forms Suite

Dec. 14, 2010 - PRLog -- Hopkins County Memorial Hospital, a full-service hospital located in Sulphur Springs, Texas, had a forms management product, but it didn’t support the facility’s barcoding initiative or allow for easy forms changes. To help overcome these challenges, Hopkins County Memorial switched to Access Intelligent Forms Suite, which enables hospitals to print forms on demand with barcodes and patient demographics automatically applied.

During the implementation, Hopkins County Memorial converted many forms. With some forms management products this can be a headache, but Monica Campbell, Hopkins County Memorial HIM Director & HIPAA Privacy and Security Officer, finds it easy with the Access e-Convert tool.

“Access e-Convert makes it simple to convert paper and electronic forms,” she said. “With it, we can convert a form in a uniform template quickly – often in less than 15 minutes.”

As part of a forward-thinking IT approach, Hopkins County Memorial is introducing barcoding to speed processes and improve information availability in its MEDITECH Scanning and Archiving (SCA) module – something that wasn’t possible with the facility’s previous forms management system.

“Access Intelligent Forms Suite is wonderful from an HIM perspective because it saves so much time, Campbell said. “When we scan forms into MEDITECH SCA the patient and form IDs are already there.”

To present forms to the forms committee, Campbell used to rely on hard copies, which required duplication and distribution to the committee members. Once they had the forms, it was difficult to keep track of changes. Now, Campbell uses Access’s forms design tool to create proposed new versions and sends them to committee members electronically. This speeds the process, ensures forms are not being altered without going through the appropriate committee(s) for approval.

“Access EFR has given me back control over forms management,” Campbell said. “It has enabled us to create a standardized workflow that improves information sharing between HIM, nurses, family practice, medical executive and op/invasive committees.”

When using pre-printed paper forms, it can be difficult to eliminate every copy of an outdated form. This can lead to several versions of a form being used, which prevents collection of standardized clinical data. Managing forms in the secure Access e-Forms Repository (EFR) has enabled Hopkins County Memorial to overcome this challenge, to the benefit of its patients.

“Using Access e-Forms Repository is helping improve patient care and safety because we’re receiving consistent data on current forms and can easily update forms to support the most current treatment plans and care options,” Campbell said.

The ongoing success of any healthcare IT project rests on the quality of post-implementation support as much as product features. Access provides customers with the ability to submit and track support tickets in real time online, and offers comprehensive telephone support.

“Access provides fast, responsive support and I can get the right help from multiple people,” Campbell said. “Many vendors don’t know all aspects of their products or customers, but because Access does I get an honest answer each time I contact them.”

About Hopkins County Memorial Hospital

For more than 60 years, Hopkins County Memorial Hospital has been providing exemplary care and service to the residents of Sulphur Springs and surrounding communities. With 100 beds, the facility offers a wide spectrum of services including a full-service emergency department that is staffed 24 hours a day and a mobile intensive care ambulance service.

About Access

Access is the world’s leading electronic forms (e-forms) management, automation and workflow software provider. Our solutions transform any paper-intensive forms process into a paperless, collaborative workflow. Hundreds of hospitals worldwide are using Access solutions to improve patient care and safety, cut costs and enhance electronic health records (EHR), patient safety and downtime planning initiatives. Learn more at http://www.accessefm.com

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Access is the world’s leading electronic forms management, automation and workflow provider. Our solutions transform any paper-intensive forms process into a paperless, collaborative workflow.