Innovative Partnership Paves The Way For A Singular, Modern MEDITECH Platform
The Client
The Facility
- 383-bed hospital system in South Charleston, WV with two hospitals, 450 providers, and more than 30 locations
Results
- Implemented MEDITECH Expanse EHR and Ambulatory Web for a unified platform across hospital and ambulatory settings
- Achieved a modern, seamless EHR platform with improved workflows, and visibility to patient information
- Achieved high levels of physician and employee satisfaction through comprehensive support during all phases of the multi-year project
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How We Help Thomas Hospitals
The Challenge
After 10 years of operating on two different platforms, Thomas Memorial Hospital (TMH) and its sister hospital, Saint Francis, determined it was time to transition to a single EHR, revenue cycle and financial system platform. Prior to their partnership with CereCore, TMH was operating
on the Siemens platform and Saint Francis was operating on MEDITECH MAGIC. The hospitals implemented MEDITECH 6.15 (the latest version at that time) to establish a single patient record. This large-scale implementation required a hosted MEDITECH system, legacy support of
the old platforms, as well as hosting and integration of various third-party applications across both sites.
Thomas Hospitals needed a partner highly proficient in consolidating a system, staff and resources with disparate applications and varying product lines. This project required a restructure of both hospitals’ IT departments and as a result, a significant culture change across the organization. Moreover, it was important to Thomas Hospitals that they act as an enterprise instead of two separate hospitals. It was clear that they needed the right MEDITECH leadership, expertise and experience to consolidate their systems to take advantage of economies of scale and better serve their community.
How We Helped
The first stage of Thomas’ journey to MEDITECH Expanse was the consolidation of applications across hospitals. CereCore was selected by Thomas Hospitals to implement the MEDITECH 6.15 platform across both Thomas and St. Francis hospitals. Thomas Hospitals tapped into CereCore’s
high performing team to help consolidate their disparate systems to a single patient record. CereCore provided hosting, delivery oversight, application management, project management and implementation resources across MEDITECH’s suite of applications as well as physician
training and go-live support. CereCore also delivered technical expertise including integration and report writing.
Thomas Hospitals continued working with CereCore to further modernize their EHR by moving to MEDITECH Expanse and MEDITECH Web Ambulatory and Web Acute/ED solutions. Throughout the multi-year project, CereCore continued serving as a trusted advisor and reliable resource for the MEDITECH Expanse implementation, including providing level 1 help desk support and optimizing MEDITECH Web Ambulatory for population health.
The collaboration included four key components:
- Innovative Leadership and Project Management. CereCore provided consistent leadership which included weekly calls, updates and a dashboard that updated the entire team on the progress of the project. CereCore maintained organized and clear communication throughout each phase of the project in order to effectively guide two separate hospitals to one system. Additionally, Thomas Hospitals had a strong IT team and engaged project managers who were essential to the success of this implementation.
- Standardized Approach. CereCore aligned processes and standards to create more operational efficiency within the Thomas Hospitals' operations. CereCore provided additional tools to help them manage quality initiatives, gain access to consolidated data for reporting and worked with users across the hospitals to better understand and incorporate customized workflows.
- Strategic Managed Services. CereCore offered a team of IT experts, who worked remotely and on-site, overseeing application support for specialty and primary care physicians. CereCore also managed and hosted multiple third-party applications that enabled Thomas Health to take advantage of voice recognition, evidence based clinical content and standardized nomenclature for reporting purposes.
- Impactful Customer Service and Support. Physician and staff satisfaction was a priority throughout the project. CereCore provided a cost-effective support model that provided 24-hour U.S. based support and access to experienced resources with clinical backgrounds.
The Results
Thomas Hospitals successfully consolidated a disparate set of applications, beginning with a complete implementation of the MEDITECH 6.15 platform and full suite of applications in just over a year. Not only did this streamline the two hospitals to a single patient record, but it also helped them improve workflows and enabled easy access to consolidated patient information, which led to increased physician and patient satisfaction.
This first achievement allowed Thomas Hospitals to build a foundation for future initiatives and paved the way to begin preparation for meeting Meaningful Use Stage 3 requirements. Thomas Hospitals gained the business intelligence and resources to move to MEDITECH Expanse and MEDITECH Web Ambulatory and Web Acute/ED solutions, using population health to better serve the patient care needs of their community.
