Automates health information management, frees up employees for patient care
Mountain View, CA and Boca Raton, FL — June 17, 2004 — Eclipsys Corp., a provider of clinical, financial and management information software, today announced that El Camino Hospital will utilize Eclipsys' outsourcing services to automate its health information management (HIM) department.
El Camino, a 426-bed, not-for-profit, community hospital located in Silicon Valley, said the decision to outsource its HIM department to Eclipsys will expand the existing relationship between the two companies. El Camino was the first hospital in the world to install a computerized physician order entry system in 1971 and has built on this legacy partnering with Eclipsys.
"We decided to automate our HIM department based on the results of a three-month internal study that found that no further improvement in cost savings or efficiency was possible in a paper-based medical records system," said Mark Zielazinski, chief information officer at El Camino Hospital. "The study indicates that eliminating the retrieval, filing, assembly and redundant analysis of paper-based medical records will improve our overall operations. Based on these findings, we selected Eclipsys because of its ability to support our vision of creating the 'smart hospital of the future' a vision that relies on technology to lower costs and improve patient care."
Eclipsys said the outsourcing services will provide Internet-based technology to automate document management, chart analysis, deficiency management, chart completion and electronic signature functions. These functions will also be integrated with patient accounting to expedite billing and improve collections. By eliminating paper-based HIM processes, clinicians and business office staff will have access to patient records anywhere they have Internet access, thereby increasing productivity and cost savings.
"Physicians and nurses no longer have to run to the HIM department to access patient records or complete charts," said Zielazinski. "Instead, they can remain at the patient's bedside and focus on providing quality care."
In addition to automating the HIM function, Eclipsys' outsourcing personnel will assume responsibility for day-to-day operation of the hospital's HIM department. Eclipsys said this will enable the hospital's HIM department to become more productive as it will automatically edit gathered information, as opposed to relying on the manual processes that the hospital has traditionally utilized.
Eclipsys will also manage the hospital's transition to the remote coding of patient records, which will provide the hospital with enhanced capacity to handle significant coding workloads during peak volume periods.
"El Camino Hospital continues to drive improvements in workflow and cost reduction through the integration of technology," said Paul Ruflin, Eclipsys president and CEO. "We believe our outsourcing best practices and advanced technologies will help El Camino fulfill its vision of becoming the 'smart hospital of the future.'"
Eclipsys provides outsourcing solutions that are tailored to meet a healthcare organization's unique needs, including hardware and network support, help desk, on-site information management and remote hosting. Eclipsys' outsourcing solutions have fulfilled the requirements needed to obtain ISO 9001:2000 certification from the International Organization for Standardization, a worldwide standards association.
