Eric Garnett, Clinical Specialist – Emergency Services at the TriStar Health Division of HCA, presented an educational session at the 2015 International MUSE Conference entitled Implementing Improved Discharge Instructions in Meditech Magic at HCA. Dr. Chris Galassi, CEO and Product Director for Discharge 1-2-3™ Callibra, Inc., co-presented. HCA is integrating Discharge 1-2-3 software into all its hospitals that use Meditech Magic with plans to upgrade to Composer this year.
The presentation showed how good discharge instructions contribute to patient outcomes and organizational success, and demonstrated how discharge instructions can be upgraded in large, matrixed organizations that use Meditech Magic. Topics covered include:
- How discharge instructions contribute to outcomes, safety, and performance
- What HCA looks for in discharge instructions
- Challenges HCA has faced regarding discharge instructions in the past
- How HCA is implementing this new solution system-wide
- Value to HCA of integrated, customizable discharge instructions
According to Dr. Galassi, it is believed that ninety million Americans have difficulty understanding their own care, and that between forty and eighty percent of information communicated is forgotten by the time a patient gets home. Recent studies confirm that discharge instructions:
- Can reduce readmissions when combined with follow-up by hospital staff
- Improve quality of patient care
- Increase patient satisfaction
- Strengthen hospital finances
- Reduce risk
- Support regulatory compliance
Eric indicated that the 15 hospitals in HCA’s TriStar Division together discharged 610,000 emergency department patients last year. TriStar has high standards for its discharge instructions, which include the following criteria:
- Patient-specific
- Evidence-based
- User-friendly
- Easy to support
- Compliant with regulatory requirements
- Integrate into Meditech Magic
- Include meds, follow up, excuses
Although implementing the new solution across such a large system has presented challenges, the project has been well-managed and according to Eric has already demonstrated significant value for TriStar and HCA:
- Integrates with existing Meditech system
- Improves clinician efficiency
- Compliant with Meaningful Use
- Approach is flexible and scalable
Please drop me a line if you would like to see the entire presentation.
Thanks,
Hugh Martin
Discharge 1-2-3
hmartin@discharge123.com
