Dallas County Living Well Magazine Winter 2015 | Page 18

Courtesy Key-Whitman Eye Center
New Technology Helping Clinics
Improve their Patient Flow and Satisfaction

Y

ou’ve been there. We’ve all
been there. You arrive for your
doctor’s appointment on time,
yet end up waiting … and
waiting before you actually
see the doctor. Isn’t there some way to improve efficiencies in clinic environments
and improve patient flow? There is hope,
and Key-Whitman Eye Centers is leading
the way.
Key-Whitman’s President and Chief Surgeon Jeffrey Whitman, M.D. explains,
“Ever since I’ve been involved in medicine, patient wait time has really concerned me. Most doctors conduct surveys, and from our own research, we
found wait time to be the single thing
that bothers patients the most.”

RFID technology is an automated
system used to analyze patient flow

Along with Dr. Whitman, Key-Whitman Executive Director
Dan Chambers spearheaded RTLS (real-time location system), which relies on Radio Frequency Identification (RFID)
badges to monitor the whereabouts of people in the building, as well as wait times of patients and real and average
times Key-Whitman eye doctors and technicians spend serving patients.
Key Whitman patients are assigned an RFID badge when
they check in, so their movement and wait time can be
tracked for the duration of their visit. Employees also don
their badges as soon as they get to the office.
“The No. 1 reason why staff members wear the RFID badges
is so we know where everyone is at any given time. For
example, if I’m on the first floor in our office, and a patient
needs to see me on the second floor, the team can notify me,
then they know I’m on my way and can prepare for my arrival,” Dr. Whitman says.

While there are presently no other
eye doctor’s or other medical offices
in North Texas using the RTLS system,
Dr. Whitman says, “We have worked
with other clinics throughout the United
States to adopt RTLS, because so many
healthcare organizations are focused
on improving efficiencies just as we
have been.”

Improving staff efficiencies
by conducting
“simulations” with RTLS
Some of the goals Dr. Whitman and
Chambers had in mind when the RTLS
was launched at Key-Whitman two
years ago was to reduce wait times, better utilize Key-Whitman staff and equipment, and to reduce
the total time it takes to process a patient through the clinic.
RTLS begins by collecting and analyzing data from a real time
perspective such as how long a patient waits and how much
time a doctor or technician spends in the room with a patient.
Then the software aggregates the data is to help identify any
occurring bottlenecks.
The beauty of the RTLS is Chambers and team can use reliable, continuous data culled from process times to run “simulations.” They can perform “what if” analyses to mathematically optimize resource scheduling for doctors, staff and other
resources. The RTLS system also relies on software, not staff, to
analyze the data, which leads to more accurate adjustments
to the clinic’s processes and a better patient experience.

The best is yet to come at
Key-Whitman’s new Headquarters in 2016

As technology continues to evolve at lightening speed, KeyWhitman plans to enhance the capabilities and efficiencies
learned with the use of RTLS. As a result, patients can expect
to see even more high-tech solutions at Key-Whitman‘s new

Key-Whitman Eye Center has locations in Dallas, Uptown, North Dallas, Plano,
North and South Arlington. www.keywhitman.com

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DALLAS COUNTY Living Well Magazine | WINTER 2015