Forms Automation Suite Offers Business Continuity and Enhanced Patient Safety at Leading Iowa Facility

Sulphur Springs, Texas - (17 May 2009) In June 2008, the Cedar River burst its banks, with waters cresting above 30 feet. The city of Cedar Rapids, Iowa lost power, and businesses and homes in the flood plain were overwhelmed by the surging torrent. The basement at Mercy Medical Center flooded, and many of the facility’s paper forms were destroyed or damaged.

Hospital administrators decided that the recently purchased Access Patient Flow System (PFS) could be a vital part of the solution to their disaster planning and business continuity challenges.

Instead of relying on vulnerable paper documents, Mercy Medical now manages its forms electronically in Access’s e-Forms Repository (EFR), and prints them on demand.

If Mercy Medical was hit by a flood or other natural disaster, the forms that the facility needs to offer patients uninterrupted service would no longer be at risk. In addition, the costs and delays of replacing thousands of paper forms would be avoided. Mercy Medical is scanning its historical paper forms so that information for previous patients is secure and protected in all circumstances.

“Now that we’re using Access’s e-Forms Repository we’re confident that it would be business as usual if there was another flood,” said Vicki Wittmer, systems analyst at Mercy Medical. “The Access solution is a vital part of our disaster plan.”

As at most hospitals, Mercy Medical sometimes experiences downtime during upgrades and other scheduled maintenance to the health information system (HIS). There can also be unexpected technical issues that temporarily prevent personnel from accessing patient demographics. Mercy Medical’s IS team has found a solution.

“When our HIS has downtime, Access’s PFS and EFR allow us to get to the patient information needed to deliver care and register patients,” Wittmer said. “These systems are a great complement to our Meditech HIS.”

“With PFS and the Patient Label System, we know that we’re gathering accurate demographics that will help us correctly identify patients throughout their visit,” Wittmer said. “Our Access system has definitely improved patient safety.”

Another aspect of Mercy Medical’s ongoing patient safety initiative involves creating a closed loop medication administration process that ensures patients receive the correct medicines and doses prescribed to them. Access’s Patient Labeling and Reporting System (PLRS) assists in this process by outputting barcoded labels that are matched with patients’ barcoded wristbands to help support accurate bedside medication verification (BMV).

“With Access’s PLRS, nurses use barcoded labels when administering medication, to ensure they’re matching the correct patient with the correct medication” Wittmer said. “It eliminates errors because they’re performing verification right at the patient’s bedside.”

About Access 
Access provides electronic forms and workflow automation solutions to hundreds of healthcare organizations worldwide. Access products create time and cost savings facility-wide, and integrate with existing HIS, ERP, clinical and document management systems to deliver maximum return on investment. Ease of use, administration and expansion provide even greater value. Learn more about Access solutions at www.accesseforms.com