Staff aim to streamline patient visits and reduce wait times at busy oncology center.
DAYTON, Ohio, Sept. 6, 2018— Midmark RTLS* announces Baltimore-based The Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center at Johns Hopkins Medicine will use the company’s clinic Patient Flow Optimization solution to streamline patient visits and reduce wait times.
Johns Hopkins Medicine, one of the leading healthcare systems in the country, will be using the technology in its recently opened state-of-the-art, 10-floor, 184,000-square-foot Skip Viragh Outpatient Cancer Building, which hosts about 200 daily patient visits. Johns Hopkins Medicine operates six academic and community hospitals, four suburban health care and surgery centers, and 39 primary and specialty care outpatient sites.
Patients visiting busy cancer centers typically receive multiple services across facilities. To facilitate those visits and aid clinic staff in improving patient flow, the Midmark RTLS solution provides real-time locating system (RTLS) technology, which gives staff detailed information about patient location and reduces patient wait times. Automatically updated room status information – available, occupied, reserved and to be cleaned – enable staff to fast-track room assignments without physically going to the exam room. All of this, coupled with automated cues and a bird’s-eye view of clinic operations, allows staff to make in-the-moment adjustments to accommodate patients as they progress through various stages of the visit.
Patient location information is automatically transmitted via locator badgesworn by patients during their visits. Patients receive their badges at the Welcome Center desk, or via one of three self-check-in kiosks. Nurses and medical assistants also wear badges. Real-time location information is visible in the Patient Flow Optimizationsoftware, enabling staff to see where patients are and how long they’ve been waiting.
To further efficiencies, automatically-generated alerts signal patient waiting times. If the patient has been waiting past their appointment time, the front desk is alerted so they can communicate with the patient and provide status updates.
An integration with Skip Viragh’s Epic EMR enables the Midmark RTLS software to display patient appointment times, visit types, provider names and other relevant patient information that helps staff improve visit efficiencies and adjust resources to reduce patient waiting.
Midmark RTLS also captures an enormous amount of historical data. Using the Reports Plus™ Analytics software, practice administrators can assess data on patient wait times, room utilization, and more. This retrospective insight provides evidence to support Skip Viragh’s ongoing process improvement efforts to reduce the length of each stage of care and minimize patient wait times.
Highly accurate location data is a cornerstone to delivering a better experience for oncology patients at the Skip Viragh Outpatient Cancer Building. According to a 2016 report from the healthcare research firm KLAS, Midmark RTLS* received the highest rating among RTLS vendors that provide both hardware and software. Midmark RTLS also received the highest rating for location accuracy, as well as for many other categories.1
*Midmark RTLS Solutions, Inc., f/k/a Versus Technology, Inc., is a wholly owned subsidiary of Midmark Corporation. In May 2016, Midmark acquired Versus Technology, Inc.
1“Real-time Location Systems (RTLS) 2016,” July 2016. © 2016 KLAS Enterprises, LLC. All rights reserved. www.KLASresearch.com.
About Midmark ̶ Medical
Midmark helps physicians and care teams deliver exceptional patient care with better equipment, smarter workflows and integrated technology. For more than 50 years, we have used our knowledge and unmatched understanding of the ambulatory care space to help our customers improve clinical outcomes and eliminate the barriers preventing seamless, well-coordinated patient care. Learn more at midmark.com/medical/resource-library.
About Midmark
Midmark Corporation is the only clinicalenvironmental design company that enables a better care experience for the medical, dental and animal health markets. With more than 1,800 teammates worldwide, Midmark focuses on harmonizing clinical space, technology and workflows for caregivers and patients at the point of care. Founded in 1915 and headquartered in the greater Dayton, Ohio, area, Midmark maintains production and administrative offices in Versailles, Ohio, with six other locations in the United States as well as subsidiaries in India, Italy and the United Kingdom. To learn more about Midmark, visit midmark.com.