St. Francis Hospital found its solution with DataBank IMX
21st Century Healthcare
In October 2003, St. Francis Hospital opened a new, state-of-the-art facility consisting of a world-class heart center with comprehensive imaging and diagnostic services, outpatient surgery services, a women’s wellness center, and an expanded emergency department.
To further improve the efficiency of their operations and be more responsive to patient needs, St. Francis personnel recognized the need for immediate access to patient information. However, that information was on microfilm and in paper folders. Access to it was slow and tedious and required the use of old microfilm reader-printers which often required repairs resulting in long periods, sometimes days, of downtime. Adding to these issues was staff frustration, when attempting to locate and retrieve information that at times was misfiled.
Melissa Edwards, RHIA and Director of Health Information Management, understood the implications of not being able to locate needed information – patient safety, loss of valuable staff time spent on filing, retrieving, and re-filing files, inability to access information where and when it is needed, space utilization, and more.
21st Century Care Coupled with a 21st Century Document Management Solution
Under the direction of Ms. Edwards, St. Francis sought approaches and organizations that could provide the right solution. Ms. Edwards understood that essential elements to any solution required that data entry and indexing of patient information had to be highly accurate and that scanning of patient records had to produce images of consistently superior quality. Additionally, all patient information would have to be immediately accessible 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
In order for this to occur, St. Francis needed to select a provider that understood how best to manage one of their most important assets – patient charts and the information contained on them. Equally important, the selected organization must be sensitive to their mission-critical operation, committed to implementing a solution that was cost-effective, able to rapidly deploy a state-of-the-art solution with minimal impact on their operation, and train on operational methodologies that were highly efficient and effective.
DataBank IMX was recognized as the organization capable of doing all this and more. DataBank IMX’s excellent reputation in the document management industry, coupled with their responsiveness and their attractive solution, were all key factors in the hospital’s selection decision.
The Impact of an Efficient Document Management Solution Today, St. Francis has exactly what they need:
Immediate and secure access to patient charts
No more lost or misplaced documents
Ability to retrieve charts in a manner familiar to all staff with minimal training of new personnel in their use of the system.
Unlimited and expandable indexing as their needs change
Improved office environments by digital imaging patient charts and by freeing up space previously used for film and paper files
As stated by Ms. Edwards, “The solution implemented by DataBank IMX has made our staff more efficient and the high quality of information results in overall patient safety. The timeliness and quality in which we make information available to our clients has significantly improved their overall satisfaction with our internal information systems organization.”
Going Beyond Today’s Needs – A Forwardthinking Approach
Not only did DataBank IMX design a solution that would meet St. Francis’ current needs but also considered future directions, thus improving on the already attractive return on the hospital’s investment in the solution. In the near future, information from other departments – Nursing, ER, and Quality Management – will be integrated into the system to expand to a hospital-wide solution built upon a common architectural platform.
About St. Francis Hospital
St. Francis Hospital, located in Blue Island, IL, is a 410-bed, Catholic, not-for-profit healthcare institution. Founded in 1905, St. Francis offers a comprehensive range of medical, surgical, pediatric and obstetrical care and serves as a major treatment site for cardiac patients. St. Francis is recognized for achieving excellence in care, efficiency of operations and sustainability of cardiovascular performance, and prides itself on providing quality healthcare. For more than 35 years, St. Francis has been a leader in the prevention and treatment of heart disease.
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