Increasing Quality of Care by Automating the Incident Reporting Process
“It all starts with safety” is Woodcreek Provider Services’ employee safety mantra. Woodcreek leaders maintain a keen focus on providing the best quality of care and doing so safely—and they continuously search for ways to improve.
Just a few years back, Woodcreek was using pen and paper to manage all quality-of-care and staff issues. When there was an incident, employees would print a copy of the necessary form, handwrite all pertinent information, and turn it in to the appropriate manager. The manager then wrote down the resolution and filed the form away. Meanwhile, nursing issues were managed separately using a spreadsheet that was stored on a shared drive.
“Our paper and pencil method wasn’t meeting our high standards,” says Melissa Miller, Quality Improvement Manager at Woodcreek Provider Services. “We needed an electronic way to centrally track all issues that might be limiting our ability to deliver appropriate care, and a means to understand the trends so we could determine and implement the appropriate corrective actions. It was critical we find something more effective, less cumbersome, and that offered greater insights.”
An Automated, Paperless Solution for Tracking and Trending Quality-of-Care Issues
Woodcreek Provider Services selected CIP Reporting’s Incident Reporting solution to automate the reporting, tracking, and trending of its quality-of-care investigations, internal employee workflow issues, patient experience feedback, Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) reporting, and Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) compliance.
With CIP Reporting, Woodcreek Now Has:
- Built-in Workflow to Ensure Woodcreek’s Exact Processes and Escalations Are Followed
- Automatic Report Generation for Quick and Easy Issue Reporting and Trending
- Woodcreek-Specific Electronic Report Forms for Documenting Things Like Quality-of-Care, Employee, and HIPAA-Related Issues
- The Ability to Search Incident Reports by Date, Patient Name, Employee Name, and Keyword
- A Dashboard to Track Issues, View Trends, and Close Out Reports
- Kudos Reporting So Employees Can Easily Enter in Their Praise of Others
shares Miller.
Success:
Efficiencies Gained and a Culture of Reporting Fostered
Since implementing CIP Reporting, Woodcreek has grown from 35 doctors to more than 40 and growing. Managing this growth while maintaining a superior level of patient care has been paramount.
CIP Reporting’s Incident Reporting Solution has Enabled Woodcreek’s Quality Improvement Team to Contribute to the Achievement of These Goals with:
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Improved Patient Experience
When a patient reaches out with a concern, the quality improvement team immediately searches CIP Reporting for the patient history and for any similar issues to ensure consistent issue handling. -
Supports Change Management
CIP Reporting is configurable to support evolving needs and requirements. Equally important, though, CIP Reporting provides the data to support change. “Staff would ask me, ‘Why are we doing it this way?’ Now I have the data to show them why,” explains Miller. -
Increased Efficiency and Time Savings
All reports are managed centrally and workflow is built into the system. “If there’s an issue that needs legal consultation, all I have to do is click a button to pull a report for our legal team to review; if I have an incident that needs input from someone else, I can assign it within CIP Reporting to that person and they will be prompted to take the next steps—regardless of their geographical location. CIP Reporting saves my team tremendous, precious time,” says Miller.
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Support Top-Level Conversations with Hard Facts and Trend Analysis
CIP Reporting-generated reports detailing call volume, type, and response times are now frequently used in discussions with both L.A. Live management and Los Angeles city officials. -
Build a Culture of Reporting and Increased Staff Engagement
CIP Reporting’s easy-to-use interface along with its Kudos reporting have been the catalyst in getting staff to use the system more frequently. -
Increased Compliance
The simple, Woodcreek-specific interface removes the roadblocks associated with more cumbersome HIPAA and OSHA reporting processes. Plus, given CIP Reporting is a secure environment, Woodcreek can ensure HIPAA compliance while communicating with one another to resolve patient-related issues.
About Woodcreek Provider Services
Woodcreek Provider Services was formed in January 2018 when Woodcreek Healthcare joined Mary Bridge Children’s Health Network. Woodcreek Provider Services oversees the business relationship between the two and provides the clinical and administrative support for Woodcreek Pediatrics–Mary Bridge Children’s. Serving East Pierce County just outside of Seattle, Washington, Woodcreek Pediatrics–Mary Bridge Children’s has more than 40 providers and 130 ancillary staff across three locations and specializes in providing the highest quality and best practices of care spanning pediatric, urgent care, allergy and asthma, and behavioral health services.