Changing EHR vendors can cause significant disruption in access to patient health information putting patients at risk by backlogged or inaccurate documentation. This is what a St Louis-based integrated delivery network (IDN) wanted to avoid when they decided to make the switch from NextGen to Epic.
DISC worked with them to make the transition as smooth as possible. On their go-live date, they achieved their ultimate goal: to keep patient health information accessible and accurate at all times so their providers could give the best care, without interruption.
Moving from NextGen to Epic
Being one of the largest nonprofit healthcare integrated delivery networks in the country with over 100 locations and 600 providers they chose DISC as a technology partner to help handle the large volume of incoming documents. SmartFiler by DISC was able to automate their labor-intensive process and increase the speed and accuracy of document indexing.
After a careful evaluation of NextGen vs Epic, they decided to make the change to Epic. However, they were not aware of how moving to Epic might change their indexing workflows or affect document processing time. Several months before the scheduled “Go Live” with Epic, DISC was brought in to ensure a smooth transition. That’s when several challenges became apparent.
- Epic did not have an internal document management system
- Epic adds additional requirements to their documentation
- Epic document-type labeling includes an open-text description field to further define the document
DISC helped them navigate and develop solutions to each of these challenges by developing indexing workflows to work with Epic, while providing the organization with strategic guidance and training. By using SmartFiler to index documents, the organization wasn’t slowed down by the additional clicks and steps to process a document in Epic vs NextGen. DISC helped the organization define their document type lists and create policies that they would use for both SmartFiler and their internal filing.
With these plans in place, the IDN was able to meet their projected Go Live date without impairing their indexing speed or accuracy.