Liverpool Heart and Chest Hospital NHS Foundation Trust
HIMSS 7 achiever gains access to one complete medical record and automated processes.
The challenge
Liverpool Heart and Chest Hospital NHS Foundation Trust (LHCH) wanted to create one complete medical record. It needed a solution to automate manual processes that also integrates with Allscripts without losing any data.
To continue its seven-year streak as the number one hospital in the United Kingdom for overall patient care, as well as to reach HIMSS Stages 6 and 7, LHCH removed paper-based notes hospital-wide in a single step with Hyland's OnBase platform.
The solution
LHCH turned to the OnBase enterprise content management (ECM) solution to provide electronic document management across the entire hospital. Dr. Johan Waktare led the initiative to implement the comprehensive solution, including a seamless integration with Allscripts Sunrise Clinical Manager for clinical documentation. This gives staff instant access to all patient information — without leaving the Sunrise user interface.
“Most people don’t know we even have an enterprise content management system; it’s just a tab they click in the electronic patient record” or EPR, Dr. Waktare said.
LHCH also uses OnBase eForms to capture information electronically from the beginning of processes. Automated workflows then route that documentation to the right people while automatically alerting stakeholders. By getting paper out of the way, LHCH optimized processes like referrals management and subject access requests (releases of information) — making them faster and more accurate.
OnBase also empowers doctors and clinicians with up-to-the-minute information to support decision-making. With paper out of the way, LHCH easily shares information and immediately delivers patient content to improve process performance, quality of care and patient safety — a big step toward HIMSS Stage 7, the pinnacle for hospital organizations on the path to a complete EPR and full participation in an electronic health record (EHR). LHCH now captures and manages information from outside the EPR, no matter the original source — paper, mail or clinical devices.
We had beautiful electronic data, but we printed it all out. With OnBase integrated with Allscripts, Liverpool now has a more complete EPR.
— Dr. Johan Waktare, LHCH cardiologist and clinical lead for enterprise patient records
By letting users securely access patient information outside of the electronic patient record, LHCH maintains a high standard of quality care. In fact, Health Service Journal chose LHCH as “Provider Trust of the Year.”
But that was only the beginning. In only a 15-month effort, LHCH was able to earn a three-way tie for first on the Clinical Digital Maturity Index (CDMI) ranking. The CDMI is an important benchmarking tool that the English National Health Service (NHS) uses to rank hospitals on their effective use of information technology — especially electronic patient records — to improve patient safety and outcomes.
In comparison, it took five and 12 years, respectively, for the other two healthcare providers to develop systems robust enough to provide administrative and clinical systems that meet CDMI standards.
The difference
Creates a more complete patient record with Allscripts: Integrating Allscripts and OnBase eliminates the need to search for EPRs, giving staff more time to spend with patients. Or more to the point: Less clerical, more clinical.
Supports HIMSS Stage 7 achievement: With OnBase giving LHCH one complete electronic medical record, Dr. Waktare is confident the hospital will achieve HIMSS Stage 7.
Prepares LHCH for the future: OnBase gives LHCH a platform to meet the NHS’ mandate for paper-free referrals.
Speeds adoption of healthcare technology: LHCH went from being a paper-based trust to first on the CDMI ranking in just 15 months.