First multi-provider practice goes live with athenaClinicals
Last month, Bethel Family Medicine successfully implemented Phase I of athenaClinicals, the Document Workflow (a critical component of the Virtual Back Office), becoming our third live client and our first multi-provider practice.
Installing the Virtual Back Office for a multi-group practice was just as smooth as we've come to expect from our experience with solo practices (see the implementation stories of our first two Alpha clients in past issues of the Pulse). The Document Workflow portion of the Virtual Back Office stops all paper coming to the office and routes it through athenahealth, where our employees categorize and post data from all fax and clinical correspondence to the 'provider inbox' for review/approval/follow-up action prior to posting in the patient record.
Without athenaClinicals, multiple providers equals multiple routines and workflows. For example, when and how Physician #1 prefers to see lab results and charts may be different than Physician #2's preferences. "athenaClinicals magnified the effects of inconsistent processes the practice was already experiencing," said Clinical Engagement Manager Kevin Tolin-Scheper. "It helped the practice see where they needed to be more consistent with workflows to create greater efficiency for all in the office." While initially choosing different workflows, providers have drifted to a new, consistent approach and are pleased with their collective effectiveness.
Practice staff took a good look at how everyday tasks flowed through the office, and made some key changes with the support of athenahealth. The payoff has been tremendous. Now, work flows to the person in charge of each task, and does not need to pass through several hands before getting to the decision-maker. That means that clinical staff take a more direct role in reviewing clinical information coming to the practice, and administrative staff deal more directly with their tasks as well. For example, the person in charge of communicating lab results to patients gets those results directly, instead of having to pull charts or look through a manual log. As a whole, the practice is more focused and efficient.
"The biggest key to success with athenaClinicals in multi-provider practices is cooperation and communication between all areas of the practice," said Tolin-Scheper. "When we implement the Document Workflow, we create a consistent and efficient process within the practice, requiring staff to be open to change."
"We will continue to see different practices with different existing workflows," said Tolin-Scheper. "But what we have now is an approach that makes the clinical workflow as consistent and effective as possible. The overall reaction to the change has been great."
The next phase is the "go live" on the Encounter Workflow, where providers can choose to start using athenaClinicals to document patient encounters and orders. Bethel Family Medicine is currently going live with the Encounter Workflow.
In the meantime, five Beta clients in internal medicine, family medicine, and pediatrics, representing 30 providers, have begun their implementations of athenaClinicals. And we have begun work on obstetrics and gynecology. Our first OB/GYN practice will kick off implementation with athenaClinicals in July.
If you'd like more information about athenaClinicals, please e-mail athenaclinicals@athenahealth.com.