New cards are keys to clean records
December 1, 2000 4 minutes read
New cards are keys to clean records
Patients swipe in for faster service
As he swiped the miniature card on his key ring through the scanner at his fitness center, it occurred to Robert Krieger that the same idea could work at Orange Park Medical Center, the Jacksonville, FL, facility where he is CEO.
His eureka moment led to a way of registering patients that is new to northeast Florida and possibly unique in the industry, says Margaret Wright, the hospital’s director of business development.
At the registration desk, patients present a card, about the size of a box of tic tacs, that contains their bar-coded Social Security number. A hand-held scanner reads the card, bringing up the patient’s health record on a computer screen. Dayton, OH-based Standard Register, which has a Jacksonville office, makes the hospital’s key cards.
Before the Orange Park job, "we had never done a key card for health care," says Holly Crouch, Standard Register’s account manager for the hospital. "As far as I know, there are no other facilities currently on-line with this product, but it has generated a great deal of interest. I have received several calls from other [Standard Register] representatives throughout the United States who are presenting this product to their customers."
The "Key to Rapid Care" card began as a marketing effort, Wright says. "We wanted to get something into people’s hands that would make them feel an attachment to Orange Park Medical Center. The by-product and benefit has been a cleaner patient record."
Development of the program began in 1998, she says, with an initial investment of $22,600, including brochures, postage, scanners for the emergency department (ED), and the cost of the key cards themselves. Since then, Wright estimates, the hospital has spent another "$4,000 or $5,000" to buy scanners for the remainder of the registration areas.
In early 1999, Orange Park did an initial bulk-rate mailing of 5,000 trifold cards to selected ZIP codes in Clay County, the hospital’s primary service area, which has a population of 140,000, Wright notes. Those cards were accompanied by an explanation of the program and a detachable postage-paid application. When the applications were returned, the information was entered into the hospital’s computer system.
The information was sent on computer disk to Standard Register, which produced the key cards, and then Wright mailed two cards to each owner, instructing them to keep one on a key ring and one in a safe place, she explains. If people have visited the hospital previously and have records there, their files appear on screen when their key cards are scanned. If they don’t have an existing record, their key cards bring up the information from the application, and a formal medical record is established.
"We got responses from mid-1999 through July [2000]," Wright says, at which point the hospital’s $4.5 million construction project began, diverting some attention and resources away from the key card program.
"The main registration area [has been] in a large classroom, and the [key card] scanner is often not connected," she says. "The ED is the only area totally connected at present." The new registration areas were still under construction at the end of October, she adds, but were expected to be completed by mid-November. Plans are to use the cards at several registration points throughout the hospital, including those for inpatients and outpatients, surgical and orthopedic patients, and the wound care center.
The hospital recently has begun noting at registration if the patient has presented with the key card, and if not, they are sent one with a note saying, "Thank you for using our services," Wright says.
A regular agenda item
Because the key card scanners have not been hooked up in all registration areas, there has been some inconsistency in the program’s implementation, she notes.
"We often have staff turnover," Wright says. "Maybe the director or manager forgot to tell [staff] about the Key to Care card, so they have no idea what that is. We have had phone calls from patients, saying they tried to use it [and couldn’t]. We had to explain to them that it wasn’t set up in every area."
To ensure that the information is thoroughly disseminated, the key card program is now on the agenda for all staff meetings, she adds. "It’s discussed every month, and staff are reminded of it. If that’s not done on a regular basis, you get, We don’t do that anymore’ from registration staff when someone asks about it."
There has been some resistance from potential cardholders. "Some people have expressed concern about giving out their Social Security numbers," Wright says. "People hold that number very closely."
Orange Park has discovered the key card has an added feature, she says — the ability it provides the hospital to return lost keys. A key card holder recently lost her set of keys at the local mall. The person who found them returned them to the hospital, which was able to track the medical record and locate the owner.
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