Don’t waste dollars on useless automation
May 1, 2000
Don’t waste dollars on useless automation
This facility’s attempt to computerize backfired
Accurate benchmarking data come at a price, and when your facility is keeping tabs on every dollar it spends, a top priority is to make sure a costly computer software system is, at the end of the day, everything it was promised to be. Less than that could put your job in jeopardy, or at least cause you embarrassment and keep your facility from getting its money’s worth. One Hospital Case Management reader found herself in an uncomfortable situation when a software package she had convinced her medical staff to buy was not as user-friendly as everyone had expected it to be.
Glenna Bradshaw, RN, MA, director of case management at Crittenden Memorial Hospital in West Memphis, AR, says, "First, we didn’t get the tutorial, and someone from the hospital’s data processing department had to load the system. Then we found that we couldn’t use the system on our computer because we don’t have the capability in-house to warehouse data. Our mainframe system simply won’t interface with our PCs. I don’t know whether the fault lies with our system or their software, but I wish we had been told up front that this would be a problem. When I presented their system to the medical staff, I certainly thought we could use it efficiently."
The result for Crittenden is that to use the software they have already paid for, they have to manually enter patient demographics for every admission. "And that’s where we are today," she says. "That demographics information is on the mainframe, but it’s useless to us. It’s much too cumbersome for this four-person department to manually enter all that information, and we have no secretary. It’s just not feasible."
Her advice: "Make sure your mainframe can talk to your PCs. The fact that we don’t have warehousing ability may be to blame, but maybe [the vendor] should have told us that capability was essential when they marketed their product."
Rick Siegrist, lecturer at the Harvard School of Public Health in Boston and CEO of HealthShare Technology in Acton, MA, suggests that anyone involved in the acquisition of a new system ask the following questions:
• Does it offer a coherent, easy-to-read cost and resource-utilization analysis that will allow me to enact an effective disease management program?
• Will our physicians be receptive to the recommendations that the software offers?
• Will the rest of the staff buy in?
• Is the software user-friendly so that I can easily use disease management to reduce costs, improve care, and improve customer satisfaction?
Jo Surpin of the Mediq Consulting Group in Pennsauken, NJ, says to be sure to include your information services (IS) people at the table when making decisions of that magnitude. "Typically with software, you should make sure the company representative talks to people from the IS department and the CFO. Make sure technical support people are there from the company to assure that everything interfaces."
Linda Bergthold, PhD, an independent consultant in Santa Cruz, CA, comments that it’s surprising how many hospitals go ahead and buy elaborate systems without first trying them out. "Get a trial run or at least a demonstration on the product," she says. "In doing that, the rep would have to check what your specifications are and if the product will work on your system. See if they’ll offer you a free 30-day period with a money-back guarantee if it doesn’t work on your system."
Gail McCurry, senior executive at McAdams Technologies in Falls Church, VA, agrees that implementation can be problematic and advises going one step further: "Find out how the system has worked for other customers. Ask the company representative to put you in touch with previous client hospitals to see what the application has been." McCurry says to take a close look at the company. Make sure its expertise extends beyond selling its product. Look at its track record. You want a company that will come in and join with the staff.
"Find out about other work it has done and see how solid it’s been," she says. You can use the Internet for some of your research. If you search for the name of the company and/or its product, most search engines will present not just the company’s Web site — where, of course, the information will be all positive — but also other locations on the Web where those company or product names might be mentioned and where you can read about the company’s reputation.
Listservs — Internet discussion groups that function via e-mail — often contain gripes or kudos for a company or product. The Web site for the Chicago-based Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS) provides information on products and consultants, as well as an active listserv called the HIMSS Forum. For information on joining, go to www.himss.org/bbs/ bbs.html on the Internet or call (312) 664-4467.
In Bradshaw’s opinion, many smaller hospitals would have the same interfacing problems she experienced. "Software companies should state up front, If you’re going to buy our product, you really need to have some way for your systems to talk to one another, or you’ll have to hire someone to input the demographics,’" she maintains.
Once Bradshaw got the company on the phone, they did get to the bottom of her problem. "But I wish they had given us more information up front," she says. "It wasn’t a real user-friendly process by any means. I’m not computer-illiterate — I work with other software — but I found it very difficult to load the program and then connect to the benchmarking data as promised."
On the positive side, she says, "it is a giant step forward for us to have everyone agree on a set of criteria. We do use their books and manuals, but not on the computer." She says her facility had been about 10 years behind the curve on selected, objective data, but the doctors are on board now. "We have something that is not just our opinion against theirs. It’s minimal criteria, but we’re better off than we were before."
For more information, contact:
Linda Bergthold, PhD, independent consultant, Santa Cruz, CA. Telephone: (831) 462-1334. Web site: www.bergthold.org.
Glenna Bradshaw, RN, MA, director, case management, Crittenden Memorial Hospital, West Memphis, AR. Telephone: (870) 735-1500, ext. 2766.
Gail McCurry, senior executive, McAdams Technologies, Falls Church, VA. Telephone: (703) 519-1972. E-mail: [email protected]. Web site: www.mcadams-tech.com.
Rick Siegrist, lecturer, Harvard School of Public Health, Boston; CEO, HealthShare Technology, Acton, MA. Telephone: (978) 263-6400. Web site: www. healthshare.com.
Jo Surpin, president, Mediq Consulting Group, Pennsauken, NJ. Telephone: (609) 665-9300, ext. 5822. E-mail: [email protected].
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