Recently I had the privilege of participation in the webinar “Maximize Your EMPI Investment” with Michelle Majerus, HIM Director and Privacy Offer for Olmsted Medical Center and Corinne Blair, Industry Consultant, IMT. I was delighted to hear some of the value Olmsted is gaining from their EMPI, and the business challenges they’ve addressed through the use of IBM MDM (EMPI) technology and IMT’s Resolve: ID. Much of this value is derived from the IMT Resolve: ID which seamlessly integrates the IBM MDM matching algorithms into the patient search process in the existing EMR registration systems
Here are a few highlights Michelle shared:
- Olmsted started their journey by establishing goals including improving customer identification, enhancing patient safety, and reducing duplicate and overlay creation. They also identified value that could be gained in patient billing, results delivery/communication, of course, reduction in the time needed to resolve data quality issues including overlays and duplicates. These key steps facilitated executive and operational buy-in to the technology and change management.
- Olmstead deployed their EMPI in a few months in passive fashion (just identify data quality issues and linking records after the registration transaction) as most organizations, but this was just the first step on their journey to strong, consistent, effective patient identification. Smartly, they established their baseline stats so they could measure impact and value.
- Overall their stats showed a 66% reduction in the data quality issues, and an 80% reduction in the time required to address these issues!! Key statistics that demonstrate the value are included below:
|
DATA QUALITY STATS Measured over five consecutive days |
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| Baseline, Passive | One Month post Active Integration | One year post Active Integration | |
| Data Quality issues | 60 | 32 | 19 |
| Duplicates/Overlays | 22 | 14 | 7 |
| Overlays | 3 | 2 | 0 |
| Staff Time (hours) | 11:28 | 4:32 | 2:12 |
Other benefits Michelle shared were perhaps “softer” but equally or even greater in their impact.
- Reduced potential for misdiagnosis or incorrect treatment since the entire record, not just portions, were now available to the treating or coordinating team.
- Reduced potential for delays in care or diagnosis, as the care teams don’t have to “hunt and peck” for information, it’s all in one record
- Reduced potential delays in communicating results to patient, thus improving not only care, but customer satisfaction. And, duplicate billings, another aspect of communication and customer satisfaction, is reduced.
- Reduced registration time and any potential staff confusion. Consistent application of the single patient identification technology across all points of care (previously each system had their unique identification approach) means accuracy and accountability can be uniformly anticipated and measured.
Congrats to Michelle and the entire Olmsted team for their solid business approach in organizing and executing the software implementation, and quantifying benefits!! Olmsted has demonstrated that the time and money spent are truly addressing their mission and vision of delivering exceptional patient care focused on quality, safety and service.