Patients in the Texas County Memorial Hospital emergency department will see electronic medical records used in the upcoming months, hospital board members learned at last week’s monthly meeting.
“Currently our physicians in the ER use the T-sheet method, and we will replicate that method with electronic forms,” said Doretta Todd-Willis, chief nursing officer at the hospital. She noted that with the many forms to create, it will be three to four months before electronic medical records – commonly referred to as EMR – is implemented in the emergency department.
In January, Todd-Willis traveled with a member of the hospital information technology department and the emergency department nurse manager to a hospital in Pratt, Kan., that uses the system that TCMH will use. The emergency room system will interface with the electronic medical record system currently in place in the hospital.
Emergency department physicians, Dr. Jeff Kerr and Dr. Lynn Hauenstein, have also seen the system and are supportive of its implementation in the TCMH emergency department.
“We are very excited about the continuous improvement the hospital is making with EMR,” Todd-Willis said.
TCMH began adding electronic medical records in the hospital in 2006. The hospital’s clinics began using EMR in 2007. The TCMH Family Clinic in Houston utilizes electronic medical records for patient scheduling, billing and charting, and eventually all of the TCMH clinics will utilize the system the same way.
“Learning to use EMR has not been simple,” said Wes Murray, chief executive officer at TCMH. “My hat is off to Doretta and her staff for taking on this project.”
Dr. Steve Hawkins, vice chief of the TCMH Medical Staff, complimented the TCMH staff for making it “very easy” for physicians to enter orders electronically in the hospital. TCMH information technology staff has worked with each physician to create customized order entry systems.
“The only time I pick up a paper chart is when a patient has been admitted to the hospital from the emergency room,” Hawkins said.
Todd-Willis is working with members of the hospital medical staff and information technology department to continue to improve the physician side of the hospital’s electronic medical record system.
The TCMH board also approved a capital request for a $6,375 computer module that will assist registration staff and patients in insurance verification before receiving service at the hospital.
“This module will work with our current system,” said Linda Pamperien, chief financial officer. “Our patients will know what they owe prior to receiving the service.”
Murray presented information from the Missouri Hospital Association (MHA) showing the potential benefit to TCMH from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, which has funds allotted to assist healthcare providers with electronic medical records.
“Based on current MHA projections, TCMH may receive $3.5 million over the next four years beginning in 2010,” Murray said.
These projections are based on a larger sum that will be given to Missouri and divvyed out among healthcare providers that are implementing electronic records. TCMH will not be penalized because the hospital is already well into the implementation of electronic medical records.
“BKD will provide additional information about this program at their audit presentation at next month’s meeting,” Murray explained.
BKD, LLC, of Springfield, audits the hospital annually and provides an audit report of the previous year’s financials at the April hospital board meeting. BKD finished the field portion of the hospital’s annual audit, providing an exit interview for hospital administration on March 20.
“Any adjustments should benefit our bottom line,” said Pamperien, explaining that the hospital would probably still have a negative bottom line for 2008.
“It’s always good to hear that there are no major adjustments in the annual audit,” Murray added.
In other hospital news, TCMH continues to take the steps needed to build the clinic and ambulance base in Mtn. Grove.
“The site survey is complete and the USDA is ready to move forward,” Murray said, adding that TCMH has also contacted an architectural firm about the clinic/ambulance base plans. “We still have a public hearing portion that we are completing according to state emergency medical service statutes.”
TCMH will hold hearings Monday, April 13. The first will be at 10 a.m. at the Hartville courthouse. The second is 11:30 a.m. at Mountain Grove City Hall.
Following the public, TCMH will seek resolutions from the Wright County commissioners and the Mountain Grove City Council requesting that the hospital proceed with bringing additional ambulance service to Mountain Grove and eastern Wright County.
TCMH had a negative bottom line of $127,285 in February and a year-to-date negative balance of $128,159. Inpatient and outpatient volumes at the hospital were down again in February.
Pamperien explained that while expenses remain down, too, decreased emergency room volumes affect all other hospital departments.
“We are certainly not alone in what we’re experiencing economically,” Murray explained. He presented information from an MHA survey of member hospitals showing that 70 percent of hospitals surveyed have seen a downturn in patient volume.
TCMH administration remains positive that with the increase in physician services available at the hospital in the upcoming months, the hospital’s bottom line will begin to move in a positive direction.
Present at the meeting were: Todd-Willis, Murray, Hawkins, Pamperien, Joleen Senter Durham, director of public relations; Pat Henderson, medical records director; and board members Omanez Fockler, Jane Kirkwood, Janet Wiseman, Mark Hampton and Mark Forbes.
The next meeting of the TCMH board of trustees is noon Tuesday, April 28, in the downstairs meeting room of the hospital.