The complicated medical history of transplant patients can make progress to listing slow and cumbersome. The Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC) is using eHealth Technologies’ medical retrieval technology to increase efficiency and significantly decrease wait times for these complex patients.
The transplant program at MUSC serves patients throughout the region and is the number one destination for transplants in South Carolina.
Dan Stanton, Transplant Administrator, joined MUSC in 2017. He had used eHealth Technologies’ record retrieval services at a previous health system and was excited to join an organization that had partnered with eHealth Technologies since 2008.
“Our biggest issue was efficiency as we were trying to get patients with complicated health histories and records through the process,” Stanton recalled. Additionally, because MUSC is the largest transplant provider in South Carolina, which means patients–and their records–come from all over the state and beyond for treatment.
The wait time for new transplant patients at MUSC decreased by over 75%. “A year ago, it took us 9 months to get a new patient in process due to the inefficiencies. By streamlining our process and educating our team, the time for referrals to get a patient off the wait list is now about 60 days,” explained Stanton.
With eHealth Technologies’ eHealth Connect® Intelligent Clinical Record services, the delivery of organized records makes it possible for staff to find the test results and data they need without paging or clicking through hundreds of medical records.
“Our staff is more effective. They’re able to get the patients through the process safely and efficiently. They’re also able to focus their expertise and time on direct patient care,” says Stanton.
Another critical benefit is the reporting capability within the eHealth Technologies platform. Instead of a staff member making a note in a chart or sending a voicemail message about a missing document, eHealth Technologies tracks the records referral process, so data is found more quickly, and staff knows the progression of records and images at all times.
Stanton also believes that eHealth Technologies has a positive impact on the financial bottom line. “If we didn’t work with eHealth Technologies, we would have needed to add well over 10 staff members just to retrieve medical records and images for newly referred patients. And even if we had the staff, the process would not happen as quickly,” said Stanton.
Does your health care organization have the same efficiency goals? Connect with our team to explore a partnership that can help you achieve that goal!
