GRAVES-GILBERT CLINIC, Bowling Green, KY
Challenge
In an effort to take patient care to the next level, Graves-Gilbert Clinic (GGC) of Bowling Green, Kentucky, a fifty-five physician multi-specialty group founded in 1937 looked inward to pinpoint areas for improvement. When they analyzed the time, costs, and inefficiencies associated with their paper-based medical records, they became convinced they could do better for patients and physicians. After exhaustive research and analysis, GGC felt Allscripts’ Enterprise electronic health record (EHR) system would provide the needed improvements to their paper-based medical records. However, a difficult challenge presented itself – How to make the transition from a paper-based medical record system to an EHR with minimal interruption to the physicians and clinical staff while performing this task at a reasonable cost. After extensive studies, GGC made the decision to convert approximately 55,000 active patient charts to digital images prior to going live with Enterprise. “We felt that if we could identify patient charts that were actively being used and get those records into Enterprise, physicians and their clinical staff could avoid the difficulty of trying to learn a new medical records system while at the same time maintaining the old paper-based medical record. To complicate matters we needed a cost effective solution for timely conversion of paper records generated on a daily basis into a digital image within Enterprise”, says GGC’s Associate Administrator Steve Sinclair.
Choosing DISC
DISC demonstrated the requisite knowledge base to allow Allscripts’ clients’ to successfully convert their paper medical records into a digital format, and then automatically import those digital images into Enterprise. GGC selected DISC to handle the conversion of more than 4 million documents, with a three month timetable. “We knew it would be impossible for GGC to meet a deadline like this through internal efforts. Not meeting that deadline meant physicians and their staff would be working with two systems which we wanted to avoid if at all possible. In addition, as we studied our alternatives we reached the conclusion that we could not convert these documents as cheaply or accurately as a scanning company like DISC. Research showed that DISC provided the solutions to our scanning needs in all critical aspects”, states Mr. Sinclair.
The Chart Conversion
The conversion of medical records began when DISC staff transferred the records to the St. Louis conversion center. The charts were broken down to a document level based on chart tabs, scanned,and converted into digital images formatted properly to automatically import into GGC’s Enterprise system. DISC delivered the digital images to GGC via DVD and secure file transfer protocol (FTP). Images were imported into an interim retrieval solution designed by GGC’s IT staff for retrieval prior to the go-live date. This solution allowed GGC physicians and clinical staff to access images of scanned medical records through the Clinic’s intranet without being live in Enterprise. As each physician reached their go-live date with Enterprise, scanned images were accessed in Enterprise rather than the interim retrieval solution. Paper documents intended for import into Enterprise are sent daily to a central scanning location at GGC for scanning. These raw images are then sent to DISC via FTP for indexing and quality control. Completed images are returned the same day to GGC via FTP, imported into Enterprise and then made available for access the following morning. Per Mr. Sinclair, “this methodology eliminates filing of paper and the resulting need for an inefficient paper based medical record system. Through the imaging of over 5.6 million documents in approximately five months we have essentially eliminated our paper-based medical record system. Currently, we average 15 – 20 daily chart pulls which is insignicant to our total operation”.
