Revamping ASC Operations with HST
Children’s West found in HST a comprehensive solution which eliminated software silos that led to redundancies and overcomplicated operations.
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Since implementing HST, this center saw:
- 25% reduction in patient registration time
- Higher response and completion rates both during pre-op and post-op
- Seamless data integration
# of Centers: 1
# of ORs: 3
Products in Use: HST Practice Management, HST Patient Engagement, HST Case Coordination & HST Clariti
Specialties: Multi-specialty
State(s): TN
Customer type: ASC
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The Challenge
At Children’s West, a joint venture between East TNC Children’s Hospital and LeConte Healthcare, the journey towards improved healthcare management was not without obstacles. Averaging around 85,000 cases over the past 20 years, there were numerous opportunities for system and process improvements.
Michael Powers, Administrator at Children’s West, shared they had many software silos prior to implementing HST. Their prior solutions did not offer robust reporting, nor did they innovate or introduce new features and products that matched the ever-changing healthcare landscape. It became a pain to manage upwards of 4 different software vendors that did not seamlessly integrate, especially given all of these systems were not without their flaws.
Issues were also encountered in patient engagement and satisfaction. In an era where patient satisfaction is paramount, the inability to effectively engage patients and meet their expectations could have serious repercussions both for the patients and the ASC. Additionally, the center faced logistical challenges with multiple separate systems and outdated practices for registration, billing, medical questionnaires, and pre- and post-op communications.
All in all, Children’s West was looking for an integrated, comprehensive solution that eliminated software silos that led to redundancies and overcomplicated operations. And with that, they started searching around for a product that could solve all their pain points and fit all their needs.
The Solution
As stated by Powers, there were 4 key factors that drew Children’s West to HST over other solutions-
- They were drawn towards the extensive, comprehensive nature of the products offered by HST Pathways.
- The user-friendly and intuitive aspects of the HST product suite greatly appealed to them.
- The cost-competitive nature of the products proved to be economically beneficial.
- HST’s ability to migrate their existing data, negating the need to maintain two concurrently running systems.
Children’s West implemented a suite of HST’s products to solve the pain points outlined above – HST Practice Management, HST Case Coordination, HST Patient Engagement, and HST Clariti.
We chose HST because they have a complete package that is better than what the competitors offer – they were able to get us to where we are utilizing their technology to streamline, be more efficient, and also be more patient and family friendly as well.
Michael Powers
Administrator, Children’s Wests
The Results
Powers shared a handful of positive indicators realized from Children’s West’s experience since implementing HST:
Right off the bat, a significant improvement in response rate and time savings was observed when the center’s process transitioned from manually making phone calls to patients for their medical questionnaire, which required multiple attempts and presented considerable challenges, to HST Patient Engagement, that allows patients to access these forms online at their convenience.
With HST Patient Engagement, Children’s West was also able shift to text messaging for pre-op reminders and confirmations, which proved advantageous as it addressed the issue of patients not answering calls from unrecognized numbers or having inactive voicemails, thus eliminating the uncertainty around if they would show the day of surgery.. A similar transformation was seen post-op, where moving next day post discharge follow up to HST texting resulted in a notable increase in return rates within just the first week, which yielded more responses than the previous month combined.
Powers also shared the difficulties Children’s West previously grappled with operating multiple separate systems for registration, billing, medical questionnaires, and text messaging. These challenges were addressed through the implementation of the HST product suite.
The HST Practice Management product was found to be user-friendly, greatly simplifying the process of generating regulatory reports for the state. HST’s reporting system is robust and intuitive, allowing for comprehensive analysis of data.
The OR schedule feature within HST Case Coordination provides Children’s West with detailed customization, and facilitates improved communication with surgeons. Changes in daily operations were also noted, such as the elimination of pre-registration due to the use of the HST Clariti product for insurance verification. This change has resulted in heightened efficiency and accuracy in patient benefits while also ensuring compliance with the No Surprises Act. According to Powers, “the features and functionality are so much further ahead than anything we had experienced before.”
We were doing a lot of pre-registration in the old system, and we have been able to eliminate that since using HST. Another big thing is that we are also using HST Clariti, which automatically pulls accurate deductibles and insurance verification together. Before, it was all manual. We were averaging about 8 minutes to register each patient in our old system, and within 2 weeks of using the new system, we cut that down by 25%.
Michael Powers
Administrator, Children’s Wests
The Future
Despite not having implemented the Electronic Medical Records (EMR) product yet, plans have been set in motion to start using electronic prescription by the fourth quarter. This will further enhance the efficiency of operations at Children’s West.