Two years after the devastation brought by Hurricane Katrina, the healthcare community in the Gulf Coast region is still recovering. But an electronic medical record project spearheaded by the Mississippi-based Coastal Family Health Center may help with the rebuilding process.
The Coastal Family Health Center network is working to centrally implement the HealthPort EMR system across its seven-member network. Katrina destroyed Coastal Health's data center, and was an impetus to the regional EMR project.
"We lost about 60,000 patients' paper medical records, so to go electronic and have it remotely hosted with multiple copies of the data was just a good business decision," says Coastal Health CIO Chuck Clark. "We intend to have all seven of the community health centers and all clinics up on medical records by the end of September this year."
Coastal Family Health Center operates community health centers along the Mississippi coast, serving coastal counties by providing primary healthcare, dental care, and optical care. There are seven of these community health centers, along with their 30 clinics, in the state.
Connecting the centers via electronic records will benefit all of them, Clark says.
"By going into a network like this, we're helping them by reducing their overhead costs," Clark says. "When you go in and you cooperate with other groups, you can always save money."
The EMR provides information on the patients' family history and medical history, and includes other patient-centered information. For example, if a doctor prescribes a patient medication that is contradictive to what the patient is already taking, the system flags it.
The system can also remind physicians to perform recommended tests like colonoscopies or mammograms, Clark says. "It reminds the provider or doctor that this patient is due those health maintenance items instead of the doctor always having to flip through a patient chart to keep track of these things."
The EMR is also beneficial to patients in an increasingly transient society, Clark says. "If we're all using compatible applications that we can exchange for medical information, their medical record becomes a lot more portable for them," he says.
General staff at the clinics is also appreciative of the EMRs, says Edna Brown, third party insurance supervisor/management information systems coordinator at Northeast Mississippi Health Center in Bahaya. Simply not having to look for individual patient charts is a huge time-saver, she says.
Additionally, having the patient information readily available has helped the medical secretaries, who no longer have to pull 500 charts for labs.
"We are a big clinic--we have a lot of charts, a lot of providers," Brown says. "When providers would get the labs before, everything was on paper. We would put the information on the chart, and put it on the provider's desk. But if that provider is out, that chart is out, and if the patient comes in during that time then we're stuck hunting for that chart."
Clark says that despite the EMR's success, his goal is to continue expanding it. Patients do not currently have access to their own records, but Coastal is working on a Web portal in which patients can pay a monthly or annual fee to access their medical files.
Another important step, Clark says, is to get hospitals in on the electronic record exchange--especially those on the Mississippi coast that are near Coastal's clinics.
"They have to fax us data, we have to manually input the data, then discharge summaries have to be faxed over then scanned into the patient's electronic record," Clark says. "It will be much better when we can get everybody to where all of these systems can talk together and we can exchange all of this information electronically."
The Health Resources and Services Administration is seeking comments from the public on its plan to institute a permanent deviation from a policy in HHS with regards to HRSA's Small Rural Hospital Grant Program. The SHIP grant program is designed to assist eligible small rural hospitals in implementing HIPAA compliant Prospective Payments Systems in order to reduce medical errors and improve patient quality.
Trying to break through the clutter to capture market share and top of mind awareness requires a good balance of planning, creativity in your branding, and proper media placement. For Stamford (CT) Hospital, it took six years of program development and organizing of their service lines before they were ready to grow and assert their position within the market.
Facing a crowded marketplace, Stamford's focus was to stand out. "It's a very cluttered advertising market for hospitals, and all the ads look alike and contain too much information," says David Smith, senior vice president of strategy and marketing solutions for Stamford. "The ads for this campaign are designed to be visually intriguing, to break through the clutter, be non-hospital like, be simple, dramatic, say one thing clearly, and be smart and sophisticated." Stamford, with assistance from SPM Marketing & Communications in LaGrange, IL, managed to convey all those characteristics in the campaign.
One particular piece shows a shadow image of a man balancing a crutch, advertising Stamford's orthopedic service line and group rehabilitation program. The copy, "Discover more at a hospital that offers an orthopedic group rehabilitation program with proven results for a faster recovery," fully conveys concepts the campaign wishes to get across with the backing of different, animated imagery.
The use of purple as a backdrop and the "discover more" theme are recurring elements throughout the campaign. Using direct mail publications, radio, and print, Stamford relied on their creativity and simple branding to get their message across.
The campaign is still running, but results so far have been positive. "Our pretests with focus groups showed that it achieved what we wanted: people knew more about our capabilities, saw the affiliation [we have] with New York Presbyterian Healthcare, and looked to us as more of a regional medical center," says Smith.
Kandace Mclaughlin is an editor with HealthLeaders magazine. Send her Campaign Spotlight ideas at kmclaughlin@healthleadersmedia.com. If you are a marketer submitting a campaign on behalf of your facility or client, please ensure you have permission before doing so.
The pharmaceutical industry is now acknowledging that it needs a new marketing strateggy after experiencing waning patience from Congress, incredulousness from the medical community and growing angst among the general public. As a result of this unrest, the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America is examining how it brings medications to market.
Some companies are realizing that waiting rooms provide a marketing opportunity, and are outfitting them with television and interactive touch screens, which promote products and educate patients about ailments and procedures.
A new study from the Advertising Research Foundation has found that event marketing can increase a consumer's purchase intent by up to 52 percent. Purchase intent rose 11 percent to 52 percent among consumers who attended brand-sponsored events such as sports championships, walkathons and theme park sponsorships, according to the "Engaging Events Pay Out" study.