Providing much more than just scheduling, Unibased Systems Architecture provides greater access and enhanced flexibility to maximize resources and improve communication, ensuring optimal performance for improved physician and consumer satisfaction.
From a broad perspective, “access” is a way or means of approach, to make contact with and be able to reach. However, what access means to you and your facility may be slightly different than what it means to your physicians, physician offices, clinics, and consumers. Access grants each one of us the power of information…and the wherewithal to approach this information in many different ways.
Unibased Systems understands that access channels impact your ability to both attract and retain business as well as to provide services. Simply stated, the more access channels and the easier they are to use, the more revenue you will produce. That is why we offer more access channels than any other enterprise scheduling solution in the industry. It’s also the reason we designed our application suite to support scheduling any procedure (diagnostic, surgical, rehab, office and clinic visits) from any location (centralized, decentralized, from the physician office, consumer’s home or anywhere you can access the Internet) at any time. We even incorporate a complete enterprise master person index and real-time bed census in ForSite2020® to support inpatient and/or emergency department scheduling, often overlooked areas that are important access channels for the organization and seldom scheduled.
Access is of no value if you don’t have adequate capacity. With the anticipated increase in outpatient procedures and the accompanying decrease in inpatient procedures*, organizations like yours will increasingly rely upon capacity maximization to replace lost revenue. Coupled with the daily pressure to do more with less, maximization of existing resource utilization is now at the critical stage. Unibased Systems is positioned to assist in this important effort.
The core of Unibased’s ForSite2020® application suite is a powerful resource management engine that considers all of the procedure’s attached resources (location, equipment, staff, providers and even the patient) when presenting conflict-free times for appointments. In addition, flexibility in the form of six different methods to average surgical procedure duration based upon actual results, coupled with consideration of different patient transport methods, patient or physician preferences for procedure locations, the ability to restrict availability based upon patient type, a pre-surgical checklist with color-coded indicators to assure the patient is properly prepared for their procedure as well as integrated work queues to identify those patients without an order for their procedure, all contribute to on-time service delivery and the maximum number of services performed in the most resource efficient manner. All of these application capabilities are necessary to support your organization’s increased focus on improved service line delivery… so that you can apply the resources at your command where they will derive the most benefit.
[*Based upon the HFMA’s July, 2009 Survey, Impact of Shifting Patient Volumes]
What Access Means for Your Physicians
Increased access for physicians into your healthcare organization means improved physician relationships, increased referrals and revenue, improved scheduler productivity, optimal resource utilization and scheduling efficiency, improved patient and physician satisfaction, and enhanced physician loyalty. Through Unibased Systems’ Physician Access with Orders Integrator, your physicians are now connected and are able to conveniently request procedures to be scheduled or actually reserve the appointment date and time, without requiring entry into your hospital’s protected MPI and registration data. The unique approach from Unibased Systems provides access to the entire physician community that practices in or refers to your organization; thus making anytime, anywhere access available to one of your most important customers.
Just as with the other scheduling capabilities of the ForSite2020® application suite, the Physician Access portal allows complete enterprise scheduling, searching for available appointments across multiple facilities, sites or departments. Schedulers are also able to simultaneously create a legible physician order at the time of scheduling, and automatically link the order with the scheduled procedure. The order is created utilizing information provided in the scheduling process, is completely legible, and can be electronically signed by a user with proper authorization security rights. The signature can either take the form of the printed name of the physician or a replication of their actual signature, if previously captured by the organization during the setup process and chosen as the signature option. Either form of the signature is recognized as completely legal due to the use of a proper log-in name and password. Once the appointment is linked to the registration, the order is attached as well, automatically satisfying the open orders work queue and making the legible order immediately available to the department(s) performing the procedure(s).
What Access Means for Your Patients – The Changing Landscape of the New Consumerism
Today’s healthcare consumers demand convenience. They demand more patient-friendly services that provide more information about treatment options, quality and price. Revenue cycle management has become more complex and demographic trends may be shifting hospitals toward less profitable case mixes, which makes positive patient and physician relations more important than ever. Due to this trend, consumers feel the need to be more informed and in charge of their healthcare delivery, and realize there are choices out there. They require the same conveniences they receive in other industries, including unrestricted access to scheduling services. This patient-centered, consumer-focused model requires passion, commitment, reinforcement, and continuous education. The web has become a significant medium for consumer education in general, as well as access to products and services, including payment alternatives. Hospitals have found that if they do not participate in such a model, they are committing themselves to the risk of poor quality. With all of the other risks and financial pressures the current economic situation has put on today’s healthcare environment, can you afford to sacrifice quality? By embracing an open, transparent, and patient-centered environment, huge gains in safety and quality are attained.
Unibased Systems’ web-based patient portal is a unique solution designed to improve communications between consumers and their healthcare providers. Its primary function during times of busy patient lifestyles is to ensure convenient access to services while assisting your healthcare organization in obtaining the most current demographic data and incorporating measures to assure patient privacy and safety. The benefits accrue to hospitals, clinics and their associated physician offices. However, the major benefit is provided to the patient who is given an alternative process for scheduling or re-scheduling a visit to meet the changing needs and priorities of an active lifestyle. With Unibased Systems’ consumer portal, your patients will enjoy complete scheduling functionality without requiring scheduler intervention, a value-added functionality for those with busy lifestyles who are not able to contact your scheduling department during normal operational hours.
With these benefits, your healthcare organization will realize:
- Improved patient satisfaction because of the ability to choose best location and time to meet their schedule.
- The ability to link off of your existing facility Web site.
- Ease of administration, using the existing facility procedure listing, attached clinical questions, prep text and instruction text. This will ensure patient safety as well as assuring the patient is properly prepared for their procedure, thus adding the benefit of reduced no shows.
- Reduced departmental resources leading to increased capabilities or options to reduce staff.
- Improved physician satisfaction due to reduced demand on support staff, reduced time on phone with facility scheduling office, and increased patient satisfaction.
- Identification of referring physicians, even if they do not exist in the medical staff or organizational physician listing.
The Impact of Convenience – The Right Person at the Right Place at the Right Time
Unibased Systems understands the modern healthcare consumer; meeting the expectations of convenience, value and on-time delivery. Convenience has become the most important element for revenue growth. Convenience is the right day, right location, and correct time for the physician and patient, regardless of where in the organization the offered service is performed. In addition, it is also the right time of day to schedule services and the right access method to make the appointment. Because the Unibased application suite presents only conflict-free times for scheduling, and presents all available appointment times across the entire spectrum of service locations in your enterprise, it’s the perfect solution. Access via the web through a physician or consumer portal, via Citrix, through a SaaS offering, or directly through your organization's network, assures an access method for all your external and internal customers.
Create a Competitive Advantage – Improved Workflow, Unsurpassed Quality & Increased Throughput
Improving the quality and integrity of data collected up front directly impacts quality of service and patient care. Using the pre-registration process of ForSite2020®, you will ensure a thorough triage approach so that all clinical aspects of the service or services are considered prior to the time of arrival, that facilities and supplies are available, and that the procedures are arranged in the correct order when multiple services are required. Optimum utilization of resources (labor, facilities, supplies, or equipment) reduces costs and improves patient care. Patient alerts provide the data to allow reminder notices to be sent to patients, such as notices regarding routine periodic tests and examinations. In addition, tracking milestones such as pre-admission testing, insurance coverage verification and calculation of the patient portion of the costs, all are automatic alerts from Unibased Systems to avoid disappointments, cancellations and loss of revenue. Unibased Systems Architecture optimizes the use of resources, and when combined with customer convenience, allows for more volume per unit of time…and subsequently more patients at your facility and not the one down the road!
