CareMedic Systems, Inc., a leader in proactive financial management for hospitals and providers, today announced that the University of Maryland Medical System (UMMS) has recently completed several successful go lives on the company’s electronic Financial Record(TM) (eFR(R)). The solution is now installed in three of UMMS’ four central business offices (CBOs) to help the institution gain an affordable, easy-to-use, enterprise-wide business intelligence tool while simultaneously enhancing operational efficiencies to improve financial performance.
The successful implementations place CareMedic’s unique, overarching revenue cycle management technology in the following healthcare facilities: Shore Health System (Easton, Md.); Maryland General Hospital (Baltimore, Md.); and Baltimore Washington Medical Center (Glen Burnie, Md.). The final entity, University of Maryland Medical Center (Baltimore, Md.), has begun implementation and expects to be fully implemented by the end of the summer. The implementations also involved front- and back-office imaging solutions from CareMedic.
CareMedic’s eFR solution stores and extracts information from disparate financial systems in a common patient folder, which is updated as staff makes changes in any of the systems that feed the eFR. All of the data — insurance, eligibility, coverage information, referral information, physicians, department encounters — is associated directly to the patient account, tying “pockets” of information together.
By implementing the eFR, UMMS is effectively tying together its disparate hospital information systems (HIS) to gain aggregated, enterprise-wide reporting to help manage and improve financial operations — and avoid the costly endeavor of replacing HIS systems to gain a consistent technology platform.
“We chose the eFR solution because we were seeking an approach that could give us better data and better tracking across our system,” said Hank Franey, senior vice president of finance, University of Maryland Medical System. “Instead of investing years and multiple millions of dollars to standardize our patient accounting systems, we’ve implemented the eFR solution in one year for a fraction of the cost to achieve our objective. The solution will ultimately give us access to a customizable and easy-to-use dashboard report, plus it promises to enhance our management of accounts receivable.”
According to Christine Fontaine, director of the CBO at Shore Health System, which went live on the eFR in November 2007, the eFR workflow capabilities already are a big win with staff. “Our people found the system very easy to use and there is no comparison now with our workflow efficiencies,” she said. “You can actually write rules so that staff only see those specific accounts that they truly need to work on that day versus a significant amount of accounts that aren’t a priority. They can slice and dice the data to resolve accounts effectively and efficiently. They’ve taken to it like fish to water and in a short time, become savvy users.”
“We are delighted to be able to partner with the University of Maryland Medical System as it endeavors to develop a comprehensive view of its revenue cycle activity to meet financial performance goals,” said Sheila Schweitzer, Chairperson and Chief Executive Officer of CareMedic. “By choosing our eFR, they are clearly committed to employing smart choices in information technology to drive operational improvement and efficiencies.”
About the University of Maryland Medical System
The University of Maryland Medical System is a 1,746-bed, private, not-for-profit teaching hospital system that provides a complete range of inpatient and outpatient services to more than 500,000 people each year. Member hospitals include: the University of Maryland Medical Center (which includes the University of Maryland Hospital, the Greenebaum Cancer Center, the R Adams Cowley Shock Trauma Center and the University of Maryland Hospital for Children), University Specialty Hospital, Kernan Hospital, Maryland General Hospital, Shore Health System (which includes The Memorial Hospital at Easton and Dorchester Hospital), Baltimore Washington Medical Center and the Mt. Washington Pediatric Hospital. The medical system, which has 11,500 full-time equivalent employees, also has primary and specialty care sites throughout Central Maryland.
About CareMedic Systems
Founded in 1997, CareMedic Systems provides enabling technologies and outsourced services that move and manage critical data through the healthcare revenue cycle, ultimately improving cash flow and margins while reducing operational expenses. The company’s fully integrated data management and workflow tools address revenue cycle activity from inception through claims resolution, and require manual intervention only when necessary. CareMedic is committed to consistently delivering results to its customers. For additional information, visit www.caremedic.com.
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