How to find the perfect data management system
How to find the perfect data management system
It’s not necessary to use a computer system to collect cost or outcomes data. And while a system can make life much easier, you’ll likely start out with a pad and pencil, regardless.
"A lot of the work in the initial stages has to be manual, and after that, you can do it with computers," says Frank Connell, the president of The Primus Center for Management Studies Inc. in Phoenix.
But computers don’t automatically make a job easier or less cumbersome. You have to have the right system for the job. In fact, some can make your job more difficult.
"I worked with one system where just putting the diagnosis in is going to cause users to not collect data correctly," says Kathi Andrusko-Furphy, PharmD, president of Catalyst Information Resources, an independent consulting firm specializing in alternate site therapy, quality improvement, and outcomes measurement programs in San Clemente, CA. "In order to input a diagnosis, the user must enter the ICD-9 code. Most people don’t have these codes memorized, so they won’t put the diagnosis into this package because it’s too laborious."
To avoid such problematic software, Andrusko-Furphy recommends using the following shopping list:
1. Mix and match. The services your agency offers will largely dictate what packages you can even begin to evaluate. "Are you just an infusion provider, or are you an infusion provider with home health and DME, or some combo of the above?" she says. "It’s important to recognize that because some of the vendors have interfaces with other packages."
Having to integrate with other packages is a likelihood if you provide more than one service.
"There is software for home health, infusion pharmacies, and DME, but there’s no one computer system that is fully integrated into the whole infusion continuum," she says.
2. Evaluate ease of use. Andrusko-Furphy says to look carefully at the "flow of the package. How many screens does it take to input and get to certain things? Does it have a relational database that when you input data it pulls through into other areas? If not, it may be nothing more than a fancy word processor, and you’ve got to do a lot of manual things to it."
3. Look at your current process. Your new computer system should allow you to enter data more easily and streamline much of your paperwork. "Look at your manual paper process flow," says Andrusko-Furphy. "Take every form you use and lay it out in the order you use it. See how repetitive it is and where you can streamline the process and see if the information system can streamline it for you." After all, if it doesn’t make your job easier, what’s the point?
4. Report outcomes. Andrusko-Furphy recommends evaluating whether the information system produces both operational and clinical outcome reports, such as drug and supply utilization and outcomes of care or therapies.
In terms of benchmarking and ORYX, does the vendor have an interface, or is it willing to work with one or more of the organizations included in the Joint Commission on the Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations’ list of acceptable systems?
Also important is data re-use, which Andrusko-Furphy points out can be an effective and efficient way for staff to collect outcomes information so a manual system doesn’t have to be used, and the added expense of purchasing a stand-alone information system just to collect outcomes is avoided.
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