Impromptu meetings in a break room stimulate ideas
among Project Phoenix team members.
Project Phoenix continued
have access to the single system, thus
streamlining patient care and accounting.
Epic has features that physicians
and other providers can personalize,
Mr. Reddy explains. So, if a physician
has a set of tests she likes to run
for a patient with pneumonia, she can
group those tests into a specialized
“workflow.” Then, anytime she
indicates “pneumonia” on a patient’s
record, the computer system will
automatically pull up her workflow and
ask her if she’d like to order that set of
tests. These features help our providers
and clinicians make sure that nothing
is overlooked during the course of a
patient’s care.
Epic can also give information
back to doctors at the institutional and
patient levels that will directly improve
patient care. For example, Scott &
White Healthcare Chief Medical Officer
Glen Couchman, MD, can determine
how many patients with pneumonia
came into the system during a specified
period, and how many of them were
referred for further specialty respiratory
care. If a patient was not referred,
Dr. Couchman and other physicians
can look further into the record to
find out why. “It’s a huge discussion
tool for our doctors,” Mr. Reddy says.
The reporting capabilities also facilitate
meeting federal regulations and are
important in securing healthcare funds.
“With Project Phoenix, we’ll be able
to improve efficiency and provide
better outcomes. There will be more
consistent ways to deliver care and
that will improve the Scott & White
experience,” says Dr. O’Brien.
34
The Catalyst November 12 | sw.org
A monumental effort to
build the system
Project Phoenix is the most extensive
information technology project Scott
& White has undertaken. Although the
hospital had its own electronic medical
record, called Sequoia, for more than
a decade, Scott & White has acquired
several new healthcare information
systems along with its new hospitals
and clinics in recent years.
To align the different systems,
Scott & White employees from both
clinical and hospital services as well as
information technology specialists have
spent months refining the Epic software
to create an EMR program tailored to
the way Scott & White does business.
“We’ve had thousands of people
giving input about how ‘workflow’
should work in each department,” says
Mr. Chambers. More than 10 percent of
Scott & White’s employees have already
contributed to the project through the
design and validation process. Project
Phoenix’s dedicated team includes fulltime pharmacists, physicians, clinic
administrators, and billing staff who
have left their current jobs in order
to make sure the software is built
to specifically meet Scott & White
Healthcare’s needs. “Our intention is
for this to be a clinical- and operationalled project, so our strategy has been to
recruit clinicians and operators to lead
this project,” says Mr. Chambers.
“The commitment and investment
are huge. We’re taking some of our
best and brightest people out of their
clinical and operational jobs to build
this system. We are committed to
training and to transforming the patient
experience,” says Mr. Chambers. The
level of involvement from many
different departments will help staff
use the EMR program when it goes live
next year.
After the program is fully
operational, staff training will begin in
April 2013. The number of hours spent
on computer and classroom training will
be specific to each position. Physicians,
for example, should expect to train up
to 17 hours, depending on whether they
see patients in the clinic, in the hospital,
or in both settings.
Project Phoenix will debut at Scott
& White Hospital - Round Rock in
June 2013, and at the Scott & White
Hospital - College Station in August.
Total implementation for the entire
Scott & White Healthcare system,
covering 29,000 square miles, is planned
to be complete in the fall of 2014.
“We’re thrilled to help enhance the way
clinicians deliver care, and help patients
realize an even greater healthcare
experience,” says Dr. O’Brien. n