Western?Heights?Hospital?

/in /by

(WHH)?is?an?1125?bed,?5?hospital?academic?healthcare?system?servicing?central?and
western?Massachusetts.?WHH?is?the?only?designated?Level?I?Trauma?Center?for?adults?and?children?in?the?area
and?is?home?to?New?England?s?first?hospital?based?air?ambulance?and?the?region?s?only?Level?III?Neonatal
Intensive?Care?Center.

WHH?launched?a?5?year?strategic?plan?with?a?fundamental?goal?of?a?system?wide?move?from?a?predominately
paper?environment?to?an?electronic?one.?Phase?I?included?implementation?of?an?EHR?system?consisting?of?order
entry?for?all?laboratory,?radiology,?and?patient?care?orders.?Additionally,
clinical?documentation?was?implemented,?including?admission?assessments?and?all?nursing?flow?sheets.?The
nursing?informatics?counsel,?a?25?member?group?of?nurses?representing?all?disciplines,?developed?the?clinical
content.?The?clinical?content?was?custom?built?using?both?free?text?and?structured?data?entry?fields?within?the
application.
Three?months?after?go?live,?hospital?leadership?is?reporting?that?it?is?unable?to?report?on?various?state?and
federally?mandated?quality?measures.?These?measures?track?healthcare?quality?based?on?national?standards,?are
compared?to?nationally?accepted?benchmarks,?and?are?used?to?plan?ways?to
improve?quality.?Leadership?has?communicated?that?the?reports?generated?by?the?system?are?incomplete?and?are
putting?the?hospital?at?financial?risk?due?to?lower?reimbursement?rates.
Clinicians?are?eager?and?excited?to?continue?to?develop?content?in?the?application.?However,?the?project?s
program?manager?is?proposing?a?stabilization?and?optimization?approach?and?does?not?want?to?go?forward?with
content?development?until?the?issue?of?reporting?has?been?assessed?and?addressed.
Assuming?that?you?are?the?clinical?content?manager?and?lead?all?reporting?efforts,?what?approach?would?you?take
to?address?the?reporting?problem??Create?a?flowchart?outlining?the?process?you?would?take?from?determining?the
problem?to?finding?a?solution.?Then,?detail?these?steps?in?a?2?3?page
paper,?citing?references?as?appropriate?in?APA?format.