Saint Luke’s Health System (SLHS) includes 16 hospitals, home care, hospice, behavioral health services, and physician practices across Missouri and Kansas. The health system receives 49,200 Release of Information (ROI) requests annually. As SLHS continues to expand, their HIM management team, led by Sharon Korzdorfer, Health Information Management (HIM) Director, is committed to delivering the highest quality health information services to its patients, who may request information concerning care provided by SLHS.

In 2018, Korzdorfer realized that in order to respond to a rise in monthly ROI request volumes compliantly and efficiently, they needed advanced technology and services. After evaluating multiple vendors, SLHS selected MRO to handle Protected Health Information (PHI) disclosure management across the enterprise. Their decision was based on several factors, including MRO’s dedication to clients, patients and other third-party requesters, layers of support from responsive teams of experts, and the ability to leverage technology to improve workflow. MRO’s reputation as a true partner to providers was also a key factor.

“Reputation goes a long way,” said Korzdorfer. “Sales teams can sell anything, but what I have heard consistently from my HIM peers is that MRO always comes to the table prepared to meet and exceed expectations.”

Enhanced Release of Information Workflows: Leveraging MRO’s Technology

SLHS implemented MRO’s flagship Release of Information platform, ROI Online^®, along with MROeLink^®, a bidirectional interface between the ROI solution and the health system’s Epic EHR.

The MROeLink tool automates manual steps for working in both an ROI system and the Epic EHR. Eliminating manual processes reduces the time needed to process requests and minimizes human error. SLHS leadership knew a system integration method would be a vital component in improving efficiencies and accuracy.

In addition to enhancing the ROI workflow through MROeLink, MRO introduced ways to further improve productivity and service quality, including implementing new processes for responding to the rising tide of payer audits and reviews, such as HEDIS and Medicare Risk Adjustment, by shifting requester relations and correspondence to MRO’s National Service Center.

Improved Customer Experience

As a result of improved workflows, technology integrations, and moving requester relations to MRO’s service center, SLHS reports reduced requester complaints, reflecting improvements in the patient and requester experience.

The Results

Through a partnership with MRO, SLHS saw impressive results, including improvements to turnaround times for ambulatory requests, continued high accuracy levels and an improved customer experience for patients and other requesters of PHI.

Korzdorfer said, “Throughout my experience with the company—from sales, through implementation and training, to the current operational partnership—MRO’s industry experts have been accessible, responsive, communicative and eager to help. It is so refreshing that MRO cares.”

To learn more, download MRO’s Saint Luke’s Health System Case Study by completing the form below.

Lexington Medical Center (LMC), located in West Columbia, South Carolina, consists of a 428-bed hospital and more than 70 clinics. LMC receives more than 35,000 Release of Information (ROI) requests annually. LMC wanted to standardize their ROI workflow and widen the scope of their Health Information Management (HIM) department to encompass both inpatient and outpatient requests.

Implementation

LMC implemented ROI Online®, MRO’s enterprise-wide Protected Health Information (PHI) disclosure management solution, in July 2016. Focusing on efficiency and transparency, MRO worked side-by-side with LMC to ensure a smooth transition to the new platform.

This transition began with a site assessment, allowing MRO to learn LMC’s specific needs. The site assessment was followed up by a series of pre-implementation project planning calls with LMC management to establish implementation goals. MRO’s implementation team was then deployed onsite to facilitate the transition. The process also included 16-20 training sessions for onsite staff.

Innovation

LMC implemented MROeLink® roughly three months after their initial go-live. MROeLink is a suite of interfaces featuring a direct synchronization between the ROI Online platform and Epic’s ROI module. This interface eliminates the need for dual logging in the ROI and EMR systems, effectively cutting LMC’s ROI processing times in half.

LMC also leveraged MRO’s Remote Service’s team for payer audit management when they received a large payer audit. The Remote Services team provided batch logging and bulk processing for the 7,600 request audit, completing the task ahead of schedule and enabling onsite staff to continue operating as normal, leaving turnaround times unaffected.

Results

LMC has seamlessly integrated MRO’s ROI solution across their enterprise, standardizing and centralizing the process, which has led to overall improved processes and patient satisfaction.

Fill out the form below to download our case study detailing the Lexington Medical Center implementation.

This guest post is by Charlotte Walton-Sweeney, RHIT, Director of Health Information Management for Lancaster General Health/ Penn Medicine

I recently co-authored an article for ADVANCE for Health Information Professionals with MRO’s Vice President of Information Technology (IT), Anthony Murray. In the article, we looked at how extensive planning, collaboration and technology helped Lancaster General Health/ Penn Medicine (LG Health/ Penn Medicine) improve accuracy, security and efficiency in our Protected Health Information (PHI) disclosure management processes.

Establishing strong Information Governance

Mergers are set to rise in 2017. These mergers demand not only system integrations, but also standardization of Release of Information (ROI) policies and processes to ensure compliance with HIPAA and internal policies. Strong Information Governance (IG) can help ensure HIPAA compliance, PHI security and data integrity. Collaboration between Health Information Management (HIM) and IT departments is essential in developing an effective IG plan, as each group brings unique expertise to the table.

Collaboration yields benefits for Lancaster General Health/ Penn Medicine

At LG Health/ Penn Medicine, we wanted to use technology to automate processes and improve quality and turnaround times for an estimated 50,000 annual ROI requests. The first step was selecting a new PHI disclosure management partner.

After a request for proposals for ROI services was issued, the new vendor selection process took about 18 months. The search included collaboration between HIM and IT while vetting candidates, presenting options and helping establish realistic implementation timelines.

We selected MRO as our vendor, as they offered high levels of service quality and unique technology, including a seamless integration with our organization’s Epic EMR. MROeLink® offers a direct synchronization between Epic and the ROI Online® platform, eliminating dual data entry and other duplicative processes, and automates typically manual steps. MRO also performs redundant Quality Assurance (QA) checks, including the use of their record integrity application, IdentiScan®.

Since the beginning of our partnership with MRO, approximately 13,000 improper disclosures have been prevented by redundant QA, including through the use of IdentiScan, which uses optical character recognition technology to help identify potential comingling of records within charts prior to PHI disclosure. Additionally, the use of MROeLink has cut LG Health/ Penn Medicine’s processing times by 50 percent.

Offering more than just technical support and expertise, MRO also educated both our HIM and IT departments to understand changes with HIPAA and other regulations, and provides regular, ongoing training programs to help us stay compliant.

We were also so taken with the prompt and effective service MRO delivered to ensure requester satisfaction that we had their education leadership train hospital HIM staff in customer service. We have recognized improvements in our overall customer service and patient satisfaction.

Fill out the form below to receive MRO’s LG Health/ Penn Medicine case study and learn more about how collaboration and technology helped us improve PHI disclosure management.