As the academic medical center’s* leading reputation grew, it experienced a 30% increase in adult kidney transplants over just two years. With a rise in demand, the center turned to eHealth Technologies as a trusted partner to retrieve medical records in just 1–3 days.
“It’s impressive how fast we get things back,” says the lead transplant coordinator.
Since 2017, the department has seen an uptick in the number of scheduled adult kidney transplant patients. Managing growth has both rewards and challenges—including an increased burden on staff who are tasked with requesting medical records for referred patients.
Prior to working with eHealth, the department relied on clinicians and patients to request the records. It often took several weeks for records to arrive by fax or postal mail, and many needed to be scanned and imported before a patient could be scheduled. Even electronic records required manual review by staff to ensure completeness—and often several requests needed to be made before a complete set of patient reports was obtained.
“Getting records ourselves manually took a really long time,” says the lead transplant coordinator. “It was a tedious process of faxing, phone calls, and handwritten forms—then follow-up and a lot of waiting.”
Focus on Efficiency
Early in 2019, the department began implementing efforts to improve its entire timeline—from referral to waitlist. As it revamped its process, leaders quickly recognized the dependence on having accurate and timely patient medical information to improving efficiency.
Transplant patients have numerous medical records from multiple providers. Even following initial assessment, patients on transplant lists must maintain screenings and tests on an annual basis. With thousands of patient reports and labs housed at hundreds of care centers, the manual process of tracking down medical reports left patients and staff at a standstill.
Now with eHealth Technologies, records are received 78% faster. Partnering with eHealth Technologies has made it possible for the transplant department to increase patient volumes and provide more time for care, without adding new staff positions.
“Sometimes we get records on the same day they are requested. And they are always available within a few days. Working with eHealth saves a lot of time and aligns with our process improvement efforts, helping us achieve our long-term goals,” says the lead transplant coordinator.
“Working with eHealth Technologies saves a lot of time and aligns with our process improvement efforts, helping us achieve our long-term goals.”
Lead transplant coordinator at academic medical center
Easy to Use
Kicking off in early 2019, eHealth Technologies worked with the transplant team to thoroughly understand its unique process. Together they identified workflow improvement opportunities and developed medical report templates to facilitate record collection that best meets their needs. Within just a couple weeks, staff were trained and retrieving records.
“The system is very easy to use. It took almost no time for us to get up to speed and see results,” says the lead transplant coordinator.
Increasing Staff Satisfaction
Prior to using eHealth Technologies, as staff tracked down medical records for a patient’s first appointment, there was often a lot of back and forth with outside facilities to obtain records, verify patient identity, and get all of the information, reports and labs they needed. In many cases, staff had to request the records several times and stay on top of dozens of open inquiries at a time.
As part of its implementation, eHealth Technologies worked with the transplant department to give access to both administrative staff and nurses, making it possible for everyone to request patient records—avoiding administrative bottlenecks and double duty on the part of clinicians.
Working with eHealth Technologies as an extended team, nurses and staff have real time updates and communications within the portal to report the status of all requests at any time.
“Now, we don’t have to worry about it—we know eHealth Technologies is taking care of everything and we will get an email update with the information we need. It has reduced a lot of frustration for staff. Everyone has access to what they need,” says the lead transplant coordinator.
It’s About Patient Care
In addition to improving satisfaction, staff now have more time to spend on patient care.
“Working with eHealth Technologies has freed up a lot of time, giving our staff more time to work with patients. With eHealth, everything is faster so we can move our process forward and patients can receive a transplant sooner.”
Lead transplant coordinator
Working with eHealth has been a positive experience that has helped them in many ways.
“Ultimately, it’s all about saving patients’ lives. We have nothing but good things to say. We are grateful to have eHealth as a resource,” says the lead transplant coordinator.
*Academic Medical Center: Transplant Department – eHealth Technologies shares success stories while protecting the confidentiality of our clients as needed in a competitive business environment.
