Hospital Rounding, Made Simple: A New Approach to Workflow Management

Mention the phrase “hospital workflow management” to most physicians, and a wave of panic sets in. Between the unknowns of census management, the spotty nature of charge capture, and the dearth of software to manage the delicate dance that is hospital rounding, it’s easy to understand the instinct to “take two aspirin” and complete rounds in the morning!

Without a reliable means to tackle the challenge of workflow management, hospital rounding has become something that physicians dread – a necessary evil that cannot be avoided. If only the process of managing hospital rounding could more closely resemble the in-office experience – where a set schedule and predictability provide a through-line of sanity.

Finally, the challenges of hospital rounding have met their match. Market-leading HybridChart – a company built by physicians, for physicians – has delivered a best-practices approach to hospital workflow management. Their groundbreaking EVOLVE product packages charge capture, census management, secure messaging, discharge planning, and data and reporting so neatly that you and your partners will be neatly gliding through the hallowed hospital halls during rounding – rather than clumsily stepping on toes and wasting valuable resources.

The Problem

Let’s face it: Inpatient medicine is a mess. There is no schedule. You and your partners need to figure out who is going to round and where. To make matters worse, patients are constantly being added and removed from the list, and sometimes multiple providers are needed to see everyone at one facility.

Hospital rounding is a logistical nightmare, requiring constant communication and a slew of pricey support staff to elevate it to some semblance of organization. Clunky and expensive is not a good combo. Fixing these broken processes is hard. Surprisingly, everyone agrees it doesn’t work, yet no one can agree on the solution. The more facilities you cover, and the more providers in the mix, the more complex the problem becomes.

Bringing Order to the Chaos

Workflow management software, often coupled with mobile charge capture, represents the confluence of everything that is good in healthcare – a near-immediate solution that delivers measurable results from Day One. Providers become aware of each other’s work in real time, so those time-consuming “check-ins” throughout the day become a thing of the past. Office staff needed to support the workflow is also reduced, allowing them to focus on other areas of the practice operation.

Let’s go through a few scenarios where charge capture can provide this epic boost:

The Afternoon Rounder

Let’s say you have office patients in the morning. By early afternoon, you are ready to leave the office and help round on inpatients. How do you figure out who has been seen? Well, you could start calling your partners, asking them who is left to be seen. That’s going to take a lot of time and may require multiple phone calls.

We have all experienced going to a hospital floor to see a patient, only to discover that one of your partners has already written a note. What a waste of time. Workflow and charge capture software fixes the challenge of census management, on multiple levels. Let’s go back to the point where you’re finishing with your office patients and ready to round. All you need to do is open the HybridChart app on your phone – where you’re immediately presented with a real-time list of which patients haven’t been seen. Having a centralized list, updated in real time, allows you to quickly identify the gaps. You can structure your afternoon according to the need, without consuming valuable time to do so.

The New Consult

Now, the hospital calls in a consult to the office. This touches off a flurry of necessary activity: The office staff must take down the information, figure out which doctor is covering that facility, and let them know – usually by text or some other method that violates patient privacy laws. Everyone agrees this is not a good way to do it. With workflow software to manage hospital rounding and charge capture, this process is cleaned up. The office staff enters the patient information directly (and securely) into the software, and with a few clicks, the providers get a secure message informing them about the new consult. Efficient, transparent, and secure.

The Weekend Signout

On Friday afternoon and Sunday evening, there are the dreaded signouts – and related headaches. At the onset of a call weekend, the person on call needs to connect with their partners and compile the list of patients to be seen. And after a long weekend of call, nothing is more fun than making multiple phone calls signing the patients (old and new) to one’s partners. With workflow software? You guessed it. No more phone calls. The list is the list. With the ability to update locations and brief clinical history, the signouts are painless and efficient.

The 11 O’Clock Call From the ER

Imagine you are on call. The ER calls after hours with a new admission but tells you not to worry —the patient doesn’t need to be seen until morning. So, you grab your pad, write down the info, and the next morning, attempt to figure out who is rounding (not always easy by the way), and pass the information on to that person. Instead, with mobile charge capture, you can immediately open the app, enter the information, and go to sleep. Whomever happens to be rounding the next day (they know who they are), wakes up, opens the app, and sees the new admission waiting for them. Voila – no hassle or wasted time.

Each example represents major time savings. But when you add it up, a practice gains more than just more time. There is the wave of relief that the ship has righted itself. Staff appreciate the streamlined tasks. Providers can better plan their days, and there is less burnout. Practices now become scalable. It is conceivable to add more providers without creating more chaos.

If you are on the fence about workflow software and mobile charge capture, you are not alone. Changing processes in a practice takes a leap of faith, and it is sometimes less painful than just leaving the broken process broken. In this case, the effort is worth it. You will be thankful once you realize the many benefits for years to come.

For A Better Hospital Rounding Experience

At HybridChart, we provide technology that connects your healthcare team, increases efficiencies, AND improves your bottom line. HybridChart’s cloud-based software adapts to your practice’s unique workflow and will improve your profitability and patient outcomes by utilizing our 5 features: charge capture, census management, secure messaging, discharge planning, and data analytics.

NEVER miss another charge and get PAID for the work you do!

If you are interested in taking your medical practice to the next level and want to employ the best hospital charge capture practice available in the industry, come visit our website at www.hybridchart.com, call us at 1-877-977-5544, or click here to schedule a demo today!