Cincinnati and Indianapolis. February 8, 2006. Optiform and Mi-Co announced today that the UC Surgeons at the University of Cincinnati Hospital has implemented a revolutionary electronic digital writing and data capture system specifically designed for Progress Note charting in the Surgical Intensive Care Unit (SICU). Currently the SICU attending physicians and residents manage a thirty bed unit encompassing general surgery, trauma, oncology, vascular surgery and other patients. The challenge of documenting the ever increasing complexity of critical care in this patient population has been a challenge. This time consuming process is being replaced by the Tablet PC based solution from Optiform built using the Mi-Co Mi-Forms digital ink platform.
In outlining the goals of implementing this solution , Dr. Jay Johannigman Division Chief of Trauma and Critical Care stated, "our goals in collaborating with Optiform were straightforward, to increase efficiency, legibility and functionality of our current charting process. I have always believed that the nature of the SICU progress note is one that not only lends itself to this process but there is also significant potential benefit from seamless integration of multiple data sources."
"The paper Progress Note at UC Surgeons is only two pages in length ," said Scott McLaughlin, Sr. Technical Advisor at Optiform, "however, there are over 200 data potential data points to collect. By replacing the paper-based system with the embedded Mi-Forms solution, roughly half of the data fields can be pre-filled with existing data from previous notes and HL7 data streams. The end-result is increased accuracy with surgeons spending less time collecting data and more time analyzing it."
Dr. Johannigman added "the one thing I can't give my faculty is more time, the Optiform solution offers the opportunity to more effectively capture data and the care plan while decreasing the time investment."
Mr. McLaughlin, who is directing the implementation at UC Surgeons highlighted some of the key features of the Mi-Forms driven custom application developed by Optiform. These capabilities include essential automation features such as real-time synchronization of data across the wireless network, role-based workflows, HIPAA security requirements, medical billing, and custom reporting.
Major benefits for the hospital in using this new process include:
* Increased quality of care by providing more treatment time with patients as result of more efficient access to and collection of patient data.
* Increased data quality by eliminating poor legibility of paper-based Progress Notes with the system's on-the-fly, ink-to-text, recognition.
* Prevention of medical record and/or billing errors by enforcing real-time validation of data.
* Reduced data collection time by pre-filling Progress Note form fields with previous patient data, complex calculations, test results, medication lists, and treatment data.
* Maximization of billing revenue by calculating diagnosis (ICD9) and billing codes without human intervention.
* Elimination of the manual upkeep of a billing sheet log by automatically transferring Progress Note data to billing reports.
* Bypass of the tedious paper capture by transferring digital ink forms directly to the electronic medical record (EMR).
* Enhanced instructional experience by providing attending physicians with a simultaneous view of the Progress Note being presented by residents.
UC Surgeons evaluated several Tablet PC products and settled on the LE1600 from Motion Computing. The Tablet PC will connect to the hospital network via a wireless Radius server. The wireless network will allow the Tablet PC to perform background data synchronization and workflow processes, as well as access other network resources.
In addition to UC Surgeons, Optiform has developed and implemented effective digital ink data capture products based on the Mi-Co technology at a number of hospitals and healthcare facilities in the United States including the Columbia-St. Mary's Hospital in Milwaukee, WS, Sutter Health in San Francisco, CA, and Indiana University Psychiatric Institute, and Ohio State University Medical Center. At the latest Mi-Co international user group meeting, Optiform was named Mi-Co Partner of the Year.
About UC Surgeons
The Division of Trauma and Critical Care at UC Surgeons provides cutting-edge care of the seriously injured patient through clinical research and a comprehensive basic science research initiative. The University Hospital is the only verified Adult Level 1 Trauma Center in the region, serving Southwestern Ohio, Northern Kentucky and Southeastern Indiana. The University Hospital trauma center admitted over 2500 patients during 2005.
The University of Cincinnati recently became the third United States Air Force Center for Sustainment of Trauma and Readiness Skills (CSTARS) at the Trauma Center of University Hospital. This program provides a clinically relevant training platform for military medics who must remain skilled in trauma and critical care in the face of shrinking military medical assets. The Division of Trauma and Critical Care is under the direction of Dr. Jay Johannigman, Associate Professor of Surgery and Chief of the Division.
About Optiform
Optiform develops best-of-breed, component solutions for automating the collection of both data and images from paper and electronic forms. Using the Mi-Forms solution, Optiform extends the functionality of its enterprise class solutions to the mobile healthcare worker. For more information, please contact Optiform Imaging Systems 351 W 10th St Ste 110 Indianapolis, IN 46202 Ph: (317) 822-8150 sales@optiform.com
About Mi-Co
Mi-Co, the mobile data capture company, provides digital writing software that enables an efficient and effective process for capturing and communicating handwritten data. Mi-Co's enterprise Mi-Forms Software System enables flexible e-forms design for data capture using digital ink. In addition, Mi-Forms Software has proven capabilities for handwriting interpretation, verification, data validation and communication of forms-based data for enterprise users. Mi-Forms supports Tablet PCs, Digital Pens, Pocket PCs and signature capture devices. Mi-Co is headquartered in Research Triangle Park, North Carolina and has a Washington customer service center. For more information on Mi-Co, visit www.mi-corporation.com or call +01-919-485-4819 x1621.
