As revenue cycle leaders look to streamline processes and leverage technology, one health system did just that by consolidating its electronic health record (EHR) platforms.
Now more than ever, EHR systems play a vital role in running an effective revenue cycle.
As more systems now include revenue cycle management capabilities such as real-time insurance verification, good faith estimate pulls, and more, the integration of EHRs among multi-system hospitals has become a necessity for organizations looking to save money and even reduce the administrative burden of revenue cycle staff.
LCMC Health, a New Orleans-based, six-hospital health system, recently did just that. Now, LCMC Health is saving money by having consolidated all of its hospitals onto a single EHR platform.
Sherri Mills, LCMC Health's chief nursing informatics officer, recently spoke to HealthLeaders contributing writer Scott Mace to explain more.
HIMSS Analytics recently recognized two of LCMC Health's hospitals for reaching Stage 7 of the HIMSS Analytics Electronic Medical Record Adoption Model (EMRAM), the highest validation of EHR adoption bestowed by the HIMSS organization.
The achievement caps the four-year project to migrate LCMC Health's hospitals from six different EHRs, coming at a time when the health system is in a growth and acquisition phase.
"We are relatively young as a hospital system," says Mills. The EHR migration was a key factor, she says, in LCMC Health's efforts to coalesce.
"We know the HIMSS methodology helps organizations take a good look at how they're leveraging technology for patient safety and quality," she says.
The investment in the EHR transition cost the health system tens of millions of dollars, Mills says, but LCMC Health is coming out ahead financially compared to EHR expenses prior to consolidating.
"Through good application rationalization and consolidation, we actually are saving money," she says.
One of its hospitals was actually documenting patient charts on paper before the migration. "They did have a way to do order management [electronically], but documentation was still on paper," Mills says.
Read even more about LCMC’s EHR consolidation here.
“Through good application rationalization and consolidation, we actually are saving money.”
Sherri Mills, LCMC Health's chief nursing informatics officer at LCMC Health
Amanda Norris is the Director of Content for HealthLeaders.