Access Feedback
Promina tries out on-line preregistration
Atlanta-based Promina Health System has rolled out a pilot project for Internet registration for maternity patients, says Patty Massey, director of Internet and intranet development. The application is available on the web site of one of the four health care systems that comprise Promina, and "any day" will appear on another system’s site, adds Massey. She shared her organization’s experience in response to Hospital Access Management’s request for feedback from health care organizations exploring Internet registration.
Flyers and cards describing how to access the on-line preregistration option are being given to physician offices, which will distribute the handouts to their patients, she says. "Promina develops the preregistration application, then interfaces it to each health system’s web site," Massey adds. "The patient thinks he or she is in his or her hospital’s web site, rather than Promina’s." Gwinnett Health System, Southern Regional Health System, and DeKalb Regional Healthcare System are the other Atlanta-area entities that comprise Promina.
"When the patient completes the form, it goes to the individual hospital’s registration department," she explains. One of the first steps for Promina’s on-line preregistration work group was to standardize the registration form for all four hospitals in the system, Massey notes. "That process took several months of biweekly meetings."
Timely responses
Another emphasis was on how the department would receive the e-mail, who would check for messages and other information, she adds. "It is very important to us that anyone sending information via our web site, especially for preregistration, receive an immediate response and that the information be acted upon in a timely manner."
The registration department receives the on-line preregistrations in e-mail format, she says. "We created a mailbox for a group of registration people, so one person wouldn’t be responsible for checking."
If she had the process to do over, Massey points out, she would include Promina’s marketing department — which is responsible for each hospital’s web site — much earlier in the planning process. As it was, marketing was brought in after almost eight months of planning, when the project was virtually complete, she says. "Marketing is responsible for all information added to our web site and where it will be placed on the site," Massey notes. "We didn’t bring them in soon enough to be able to react when the development was complete. We should have kept them informed — maybe not have them attend each meeting, but keep them in the loop."
The work group targeted maternity services as the easiest area in which to start on-line preregistration, but the focus will expand in the future, she says. "Philosophically, this was a huge step for the health system, although it is a very small part of the hospital’s operations. This is our first step in a business-to-consumer approach with our web site."
[Editor’s note: Patty Massey can be reached at (770) 956-6080 or via e-mail at [email protected].]
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