A Patient eSignature Case Study
North Kansas City Hospital
reducing financial, environmental and productivity costs of paper
Introduction
For more than half a century, North Kansas City Hospital has been at the forefront of providing medical care in the Northland. The hospital is an acute-care facility with 451 licensed beds with specialties in cardiac care, cancer care, women’s health, orthopedics, emergency services and minimally invasive surgery.They provide a full continuum of care from the highest level of neonatal intensive care to award-winning cardiovascular and orthopedic programs to home health and hospice. The medical staff includes over 550 physicians representing 49 medical specialties.
North Kansas City Hospital is committed to improving efficiency, speeding processes and cutting costs through technology. In keeping with this forward-thinking mind-set, hospital leaders identified an opportunity to improve forms processing for human resources and financials. Previously, these departments relied on paper-based forms, which required time and effort to manage, process and track, as well as incurring high printing, storage and disposal costs. NKCH decided that moving to web-based forms was the best way forward and recognized
the need to integrate such a system with its Infor Lawson Human Capital Management and Perceptive Content (formerly ImageNow) solutions. After evaluating several vendors, NKCH chose Access.
PATIENT ESIGNATURE Case Study Highlights
- NKCH dramatically reduced the financial, environmental and productivity costs of paper.
- Web-based eForms from Access annually save NKCH 13,889 work hours or $318,890.
- Data is sent to Lawson and Perceptive Content automatically, cutting steps and errors.
- Eforms are updated easily, eliminating wasted stock and ensuring forms are current.
Quick Facts
Location: Kansas City, MO
EHR: Cerner
ERP: Infor Lawson
Focus: Administrative processes
Departments: Human resources, financials, administration
Access solutions: Intelligent eForms and Enterprise Integration
Integration with Infor Lawson + Perceptive Content
To help ensure seamless integration between its e-forms, ERP and process and content management systems, NKCH worked with RPI Consulting, which has proven success in integrating applications from Infor Lawson and Perceptive Software. At NKCH, RPI ensured that once an e-form is complete, it is archived in Perceptive Content and the appropriate discreet forms data is sent to the Infor Lawson HCM or Financials module — eliminating manual effort and potential data-entry errors.
“With Access, the e-forms look the same as paper versions that people are used to so there’s little need for user training,” said Richard Stout, Senior Technical Consultant with RPI Consultants. “The seamless integration between the Access system and Infor Lawson ensures that once the forms process is complete, the transaction that takes place is the same transaction that shows up in Infor Lawson. This automation provides another layer of data integrity and greater control than when data entry is involved.”
Simplifying New Employee Onboarding
Prior to using Access for employee onboarding, NKCH’s HR team printed out all new-hire documentation. Employees came into the office and completed all the appropriate forms, which took at least an hour. HR then manually entered all the information into multiple systems and scanned and indexed the forms into Perceptive Content.
Now with Access, each new employee comes into HR, sits at a kiosk, and completes e-forms in less than 20 minutes. All forms are routed to appropriate employee files in Perceptive Content, various departments are notified via e-mail when forms are complete, and all new employee information is integrated directly into Infor Lawson.
“We also use the Access system for all employee personnel transactions, such as transfers, promotions, demographic information,” Holden said. “All web forms are routed directly to necessary approval levels via email, the information is integrated directly into Lawson, and a copy is integrated directly into Perceptive Content. What a time-saver!”
“We were looking for a product that would allow us to develop web forms without needing HTML knowledge, easily integrate into our imaging system, and help us avoided wasting printed forms that quickly were outdated as soon as a modification was needed, We also needed the ability to route forms electronically based on workflow rules. Access fits all these requirements.”
Margo Holden
North Kansas City Hospital Applications Systems Analyst
Streamlining Forms Processes in HR and Beyond
Human resources was the first department at NKCH to transition from preprinted paper forms to web-based versions. Change-of-position and change-of-information were the first e-forms to go live, with the onboarding packet and other documents soon following.
When relying on paper forms, NKCH employees had to fill in their name, address, social security number and the rest of their demographic information before completing form-specific fields and signing the document. They then sent the hard copy to the HR department if it was just an employee information change on a government-mandated form like a W2.
In other instances, such as for a leave-of-absence or paid-time-off request, one copy went to HR and a duplicate to a supervisor for review. The employee and other parties were then notified as needed. Once the process was complete, a staff member scanned the form into Perceptive Content and manually entered data into Infor Lawson.
With the Access solution, NKCH has removed the paper and manual steps from HR forms processing. Now an employee retrieves the e-form they need using a web browser on any device, in any location. Once they enter their user name and password, the Access system retrieves their full name, address and other information from one of NKCH’s databases, eliminating the need for the employee to enter it as they would on paper.
They quickly complete the rest of the form and then apply a secure digital signature, prompting the Access system to route the document and any attachments to the relevant reviewers. The employee and other people in the electronic workflow receive notifications each time action is taken, removing the need to call HR to find out the status.
And every time there’s a new version (such as when a supervisor approves and digitally signs a PTO request), it’s automatically archived in the employee’s folder in Perceptive Content. Simultaneously, relevant data is sent to Infor Lawson HCM.
Conclusion
Delivering Cost Savings and a 3-Month ROI
With hospitals facing increased costs and competition, they need to be able to do more with less. This was one of the driving factors behind the switch to web-based forms, which Holden and her colleagues hoped would reduce the financial, environmental and productivity costs of processing paperwork. This has indeed been the case, according to the recent ROI study conducted by NKCH. The study revealed that the Access system increases productivity, reduces paper-related tasks and delivers significant cost savings.
“We’re saving 13,889 work hours each year with the efficiencies created by Access’s web-based form system” Holden said.
“This amounts to $318,890 annual cost savings, and a three month ROI.”