{Straight talk for clients}
This month’s Q&A highlights integration, those seamless connections that make it possible to share information between WoundExpert and Epic, Cerner, Meditech, or other hospital information systems (HIS). WoundExpert interfaces drive this integration and allow you to keep the patient’s chart accurate and complete while protecting your ability to use the specialized wound care documentation that produces the best results in your clinic.
Don’t worry, the HIS can be appropriately updated and you can retain your access to the wound outcome reports and other tools you love.
Get a brochure to share with your team | Have your Account Executive contact you about interfaces
May 2015
Dear WoundExpert,
Right now, our providers are forced to document in both WoundExpert and Epic. This seems crazy, right? My administration wants a single “source of truth” patient record, providers want to document in only one system, and I refuse to let my clinic sacrifice great tools like wound outcome reports and benchmarking data. Oh, and a side concern is that this current double documentation process could result in two isolated patient charts, thus putting patient safety on the line. Help!
The Scenario
We hear you. While the HIS does a fantastic job at facilitating a continuum of care during a patient’s move through the hospital system, it’s not designed to meet the complex needs of a clinical specialty like wound care.
Ultimately, patient safety and healing are at the heart of your clinic’s best practices. If forced to document only in Epic, you may lose a great deal of clinical data that drives effectiveness and efficiency in treating wound care patients. Among the many things you’d no longer have access to, we suspect some you would miss the most are:
- The discrete data that builds your wound outcome reports
- Automatic updates that keep your documentation compliant with current wound industry standards
- The largest sphere of wound benchmarking data to help keep you on track
Splitting the difference, by allowing providers to document only in Epic, means that their documentation lives in a silo away from your equally important patient data in WoundExpert. This sets your center up for an incomplete view of the patient’s chart. Plus, it slows you down and increases the likelihood of error by forcing clinicians to review documentation in two systems and connect the dots manually.
It’s important that your administration is satisfied with your data, that your providers are happy with their workflow, and that your patients receive the top notch care you’re known for.
Best news yet, there is a way to meet everyone’s needs!
The Solution
Interfaces. Secure, on demand, connections that push and pull any kind of data in your patient record. Did you know that WoundExpert has integrated with over 50 HIS in nearly 500 facilities?
If the scenario above sounds like something you’re struggling with, then here are six key interfaces you should consider:
Admission / Discharge / Transfer (ADT)
Ensure WoundExpert and Epic patient lists are synchronized and lay the foundation for all patient-centered data exchange between the two. Accepts real-time patient demographic, admission and discharge, and insurance information from your registration system into WoundExpert.
Billing
Eliminate the need for duplicate charge entry inside Epic. Generates financial transactions from WoundExpert’s SuperBill to your hospital billing system.
C-CDA
WoundExpert clinical content can be fully integrated into the Epic chart. Prepares a wide range of Meaningful Use certified, structured clinical data (including Medications, Allergies and Problem List) to be imported directly into the corresponding clinical modules within the hospital system.
Clinical Documentation
Provides a customizable view of the patient’s clinical documentation. Sends clinical results data from WoundExpert’s patient visit documentation to the hospital system, providing a fully integrated medical record for storage and retrieval by multiple care providers.
Ordered Results
Ensure Epic has a record of the ancillary service order and that WoundExpert users have a comprehensive view of all of the patient’s results. Sends ancillary service requests—such as lab and radiology orders—to the hospital system and receives fulfilled orders. Results are files in WoundExpert with the appropriate patient encounter.
Scheduling
Close the loop on coordinating patient visit information between Epic and WoundExpert. Communicates real-time patient visit information from the hospital scheduling system to WoundExpert, including visit details and wound care physician information.
Call to Action
Talk about WoundExpert integration capabilities with your team and IT, use this brochure. Learn more about turning on interfaces at your facility through your WoundExpert account executive. Drop a line here and they will reach out to you.
WoundExpert Experts
This month’s contributor was Keith Bucklen, Director of Integration at Net Health.
