Advanced Clinical Systems Redesign

Advanced Clinical Systems (ACS) have the ability to revolutionize the way healthcare is delivered by enhancing clinical quality and patient safety, and providing the detailed reporting increasingly required by government agencies and The Joint Commission. But without an implementation plan designed and facilitated with your facility’s unique needs in mind – how will you be certain you’re making the very most of your investment?

Here’s how QHR can help.

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QHR’s Advance Clinical Systems Re-design engagements are designed to ensure that you’re optimizing your ACS. To this end, our seasoned consultants:

Develop a project plan to streamline departmental work-flow; and
Improve clinical data capture via module screen re-write, in-built system tools, and data capture with a goal of sharing between various departments.

Deliverables include:

Project Manager-led redesign of existing clinical module
Improved departmental work-flow
Enhanced ability for clinical quality reporting
Best practice use of available system automation routines
Typical staff productivity returns of 0.25 – 1.0 hours per shift

Advanced Clinical Systems Implementation Project Management

Advanced Clinical Systems – those systems that go beyond the standard Core Clinical Systems of Lab, Radiology and Pharmacy – are truly the next great challenge in healthcare IT. Their importance is underscored by the American Recovery and Re-investment Act’s funding for electronic medical record (EMR) systems. The unfortunate and unintended result of the funding – and the resulting demand for new implementations – is a massive disconnect between a hospital’s expectations for implementation and the vendor’s standard implementation offering.

Here’s how QHR can help.

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For facilities planning to implement a new ACS, QHR’s consultants work alongside your staff and the vendor’s implementation resources to ensure a superior outcome when the system goes “live.” This is accomplished as we drive work-flow enhancement and process automation into the system implementation plan and final acceptance criteria.

Ideally, prior to the final signing of the vendor contract, QHR assists your facility in developing a unique Final Acceptance Criteria document that focuses on proper departmental work-fl ow and optimizing the internal system automation routines available.
We also provide high-level project management of all implementation activity.
In addition, we can provide vendorspecific technical resources to create custom screens; build automation macros; and perform table build activity. These, in turn, can result in:
- Enhanced user-defi ned screens;
- Automation of otherwise manual tasks;
- Streamlined work-fl ow within the system;
- Enhanced quality reporting capabilities; and
- Inter-departmental data sharing.

Whether you have an existing ACS or are planning for a new ACS, QHR helps ensure you get a system that meets your goals for productivity and ROI, while supporting physician and staff satisfaction.

Advanced Clinical Systems Assessment

While Advanced Clinical Systems (ACS) have the ability to revolutionize the way healthcare is delivered in both acute and ambulatory settings – by enhancing clinical quality and patient safety, and providing the detailed reporting increasingly required by government agencies and The Joint Commission – far too often, they negatively impact productivity and physician/nursing
satisfaction.

The solution? A module redesign plan designed with your facility’s specific needs in mind.

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For facilities struggling with an existing, less-than-optimal ACS, QHR’s consultants:

Assess the module in place
Identify work-flow bottlenecks
Develop opportunities for increased system automation and work-flow enhancement
Identify areas in the module that can be modified to provide more detailed quality reporting

This assessment can drive substantial productivity returns, which, in turn, can result in increased clinician satisfaction and improved outcomes.

Ultimately – whether you have an existing ACS or are planning for a new ACS – QHR helps ensure you get a system that meets your goals for productivity and ROI, while supporting physician and staff satisfaction.

HIPAA HITECH Security Evaluation

The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) calls for heightened information technology (IT) security specific to Protected Health Information (PHI). Ensuring that your facility is in compliance with ARRA’s “HIPAA HITECH” regulations is critical because, unlike HIPAA regulations in the past, there is a renewed focus on compliance assessment and the potential for fines.

QHR’s HIPAA HITECH Security Assessment provides a short-duration, intensively focused review of your facility’s IT policies and procedures specific to the stewardship of PHI. The end result – whether your facility is host to a simple or complex IT environment – is a clear, concise Gap Analysis report with recommended remediation procedures (i.e. a Management Action Plan).

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Specifically, QHR’s seasoned IT experts:

Review and assess your facility’s current HIPAA processes and procedures, including:

Policies, procedures and standards
Inventory of systems and devices that contain HIPAA-sensitive data
Risk assessment consistency and standards
Remediation plans.
Assess existing tools in use from both compliance and capabilities perspectives
Evaluate your facility’s current IT security posture alongside the HIPAA Security Rule and industry best practices
Analyze hardware, software or modifications in procedures and/or processes with the goal of helping the Client Information Security Organization improve its efficiency, cost effectiveness and compliance to the HIPPA Security Rule and corporate governance
Educate your facility’s relevant staff on ARRA’s HIPAA HITECH to encourage support of and assistance with improvement initiatives
Recommend solutions designed to help ensure that your facility is compliant!

Website Hosting Services

The more your Web site engages your patients and staff, the more they’ll rely on your hospital.

Long gone are the days when people turned to the Yellow Pages for information. Today’s savvy consumers want more information, more quickly…and they want it when they want it (even if it’s not during regular business hours). An engaging, information- packed, user-friendly Web site is the answer. Information at the click of a mouse.

Here’s how QHR can help.

An affordable Web template with robust features.

Developed in collaboration with hospital clients, the QHR Web template meets your need for an interactive on-line presence. We offer all the features you’d expect, like a physician directory, online patient pre-registration and bill pay, along with essential services like secure access, HIPAA compliance and disaster recovery.

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Website features

Online patient pre-registration
Online bill paying
Scheduling and registration for programs and events
Net nursery with password protection
Job postings with online applications
Online greeting cards
Physician and facility directory
Interactive facility map
Message from the CEO
Web statistics and graphical presentation reports
Press releases
Health information
These features are available immediately or may be activated later at no additional cost

Secure hosting service

No space limitations
Web traffic graphical analysis and reporting
Secure Web site access using a Verisign Security Certificate
HIPAA compliance
Firewall protection with daily monitoring
Secure, reliable 24-hour support
Maintenance for software and operating system licenses, upgrades and patches
Disaster recovery including daily backups of website content and offsite storage
Web site regulatory compliance assistance
Technical expertise to monitor and support background processing

Connect with your public.

A professional looking, fully functioning Web site can elevate your organization’s image, improve patient and staff loyalty, and build market share. With QHR’s help, your online presence can be affordable and headache-free.

PACS Vendor Evaluation & Selection Assistance

If you need to make the right decision, now…
Finding the right PACS solution for your organization can take months or even years of study. But you don’t have that kind of time.

Here’s how QHR can help.

Expert, objective oversight of the vendor selection process.

Your medical staff and patients expect you to offer the latest and greatest technology. But it is your duty to assure you allocate your resources in a prudent way. We can help you achieve both objectives.

QHR’s imaging solution consultants have years of experience with picture archive communication systems (PACS) in varied clinical settings. That specialized knowledge enables us to offer you the expertise you need to expedite the process of choosing the right PACS package for your needs… without vendor bias.

Through a two-phase process, we determine your requirements, gather and evaluate competitive proposals, and position you for savvy negotiation.

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In phase one, QHR experts:

Validate PACS vendor requirements
Develop a RFI for radiology services
Propose a customized operational configuration
Develop and implement an evaluation process
Design a measurement tool for vendor evaluation based on your criteria

In phase two, we work closely with you to:

Evaluate the top three vendor responses using the evaluation tool
Clarify questions and issues arising during evaluations
Organize site visits and vendor presentations
Coordinate selection of finalists
Recommend a vendor selection

Make the right choice.

With QHR’s expert assistance, you’ll identify the best PACS package for your needs, negotiate the best price, and satisfy your staff and patients.

PACS Planning

More and more processes are going electronic.

The transition to PACS is an involved one – one that impacts more than just radiology. Are you addressing your cardiology imaging needs? Are you replacing an old PACS solution and need to maximize utilization? How will PACs impact your people? Your bottom line?

Here’s how QHR can help.

A digital strategy that works for your whole organization.

Our experts gather input from all areas in your organization that will be involved in a transition to PACS. We evaluate your related service and technology needs. Considering your budget, we guide you in developing specific vendor selection criteria to assure an informed decision, independent of vendor bias.

No matter how expert your radiology team, we urge you to avoid making picture archive communication system (PACS) decisions in a vacuum. As you migrate toward electronic medical records, more and more disciplines within the hospital become stakeholders in the change. QHR’s process assures they have a voice.

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Our PACS planning process:

Conducts interviews with all areas impacted by a PACS decision
Examines radiology services in operation
Evaluates existing and planned technology
Reviews budgets, staffing and modality workload volumes
Benchmarks operational statistics
Develops a plan leading to digitized imaging
Determines configuration recommendations
Projects phasing costs
Designs a defined set of common vendor evaluation criteria tailored to your hospital’s unique environment and vision
Provides education regarding vendor solutions and architecture options
Conducts a review of system pros and cons

PACS is just the beginning. Think ahead.

As your processes transition to electronic, they will integrate in new ways, creating new benefits for patients and caregivers – and perhaps new complications for IT departments. Plan ahead. QHR shows you how.

IT Strategic Plan

IT can be a powerful support for your hospital’s goals.

It seems as though every day brings with it some new technology that your business has just “gotta have.” But is it REALLY what you need?

Here’s how QHR can help.

An IT roadmap for the next three to five years.

Without a solid plan, it’s easy to let IT decisions be swept along by each new trend or demand. But those expenditures may not move your organization closer to its objectives.

QHR’s consultants come to your hospital to thoroughly review your IT needs, in the context of your hospital’s overall strategic plan, business development goals, anticipated volume growth, financial expectations and current IT status. (This service typically follows a QHR IT Services Assessment.)

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We develop a strategic plan that will:

Define future technology requirements
Align IT spending with the organization’s goals
Prioritize an IT tactical plan and related expenditures
Achieve organizational buy-in and ownership of the plan
Identify measurable milestones
Assist with regulatory requirements
Minimize inoperability
Maintain a stable, reliable, secure infrastructure as you develop new capabilities

Make effective use of your resources.

IT is woven throughout the fabric of your organization. We help you strengthen it with an IT plan that is in sync with your overall strategy, and helps drive its success.

IT Assessment

The right use of IT can improve efficiency, productivity and satisfaction, hospital-wide.

When you need to be sure IT is prepared to support a change…

Here’s how QHR can help.

Get ready for the next level.

Our experts evaluate the current state of IT at your facility, and recommend improvements to eliminate barriers, improve customer support and increase operational efficiencies. Not a complete IT strategy development process, this fact-finding review can serve as the starting point for a more comprehensive planning effort.

Before implementing any major change, it’s important to know you have the right team, the right systems and the right processes in place to support your goals. This review is just what you need if you’re preparing to reengineer your revenue cycle, for example, or install a new system, or launch an EMR. We’ll help you foresee any potential side effects, avoid disruptions… and succeed.

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QHR IT experts:

Examine automated applications and interfaces

Assess IT infrastructure and organization, governance and staffing

Evaluate access, system usage and end user satisfaction

Offer recommendations addressing specific short term issues

Provide a foundation for a longer term overall IT master plan

Develop a visual model to illustrate your level of automation

Make IT make sense.

Proactive IT planning sets successful organizations apart from the rest. QHR will help you understand your current status, your short-term needs, and the best path to meeting your goals.

EMR Implementation Guidance

EMR adoption is expensive and complicated. And often fails.

If you want to get it right the first time…

Here’s how QHR can help.

A holistic approach to going paperless.

We help you avoid the disruptions and excessive costs many hospitals suffer as they attempt to implement an electronic medical record. We look beyond clinical and IT needs, considering the wider-ranging impacts of this change on your organization. Via conference calls and an on-site visit, QHR’s IT and Health Information Management experts work together to assess your hospital’s:

Technical infrastructure

Software
Leadership
Culture
Knowledge
Resources

Your objective analysis quantifies your readiness to migrate from paper to electronic records, identifies potential roadblocks and navigates a path around them.

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Your report:

Reviews your IT applications and evaluates your IT infrastructure
Compares your current status to best practice facility readiness checklists
Addresses specific short-term issues
Determines the IT tools and support you’ll need
Pinpoints business procedures and workflows impacted, to minimize points of failure during implementation
Identifies regulatory requirements involved
Uses a visual IT model to demonstrate findings and areas for improved functional automation
Provides a detailed management action plan, outlining specific steps to achieving necessary objectives.

Improve service, communication, safety, outcomes and billing.

A fully functioning EMR can help you be more effective and efficient as an organization. QHR can help you be more effective and efficient in getting there.