- Mon Health Medical Center will freeze employee pay for 12 months and roll out a new ambulatory EHR system to curb financial challenges.
- While Mon Health has not revealed which health IT company will supply its new ambulatory EHR system, the hospital currently uses a Cerner EHR system at its acute care facilities.
Mon Health Medical Center will freeze employee pay for 12 months and roll out a new ambulatory EHR system to curb financial challenges.
West Virginia-based Mon Health Medical Center will implement a new EHR system at its ambulatory care facilities as part of an operations improvement plan intended to help the hospital recover from significant financial challenges.
By implementing a new ambulatory EHR system, Mon Health may improve clinical efficiency and enable health data exchange between Mon Health’s inpatient and ambulatory care settings for better-informed clinical decision-making and improve provider communication.
While Mon Health has not revealed which health IT company will supply its new ambulatory EHR system, the hospital currently uses a Cerner EHR system at its acute care facilities.
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Mon Health patients also have access to Cerner’s patient portal to review their own health information, schedule appointments, view lab test results, and pay bills online.
“We owe it to our patients and all our affiliates to continue to be diligent stewards of this community asset while living our mission to enhance the health of the communities we serve, one person at a time,” Mon Health Medical Center interim President and CEO Tom Senker told WVNews.com.
The OIP also includes plans to freeze all employee pay for the next 12 months. Senker stated the hospital will suspend all pay adjustments under Mon Health’s compensation system.
“The OIP is nothing more than an appropriate response to the ongoing changes in our industry and provides an opportunity to fully address our total cost structure,” Mon Health Medical Center interim President and CEO Tom Senker told WVNews.com.
“These plans will enable us to continue to provide quality, cost-effective care,” said Senker. “In addition, leadership will implement a workforce efficiency initiative in the organization by focusing on benchmarks for a decrease in overall paid hours.”
Senker issued the statement with details about the hospital’s OIP after sending a memo to Mon Health Medical Center employees on July 15 about the plan to improve workforce efficiency and overcome financial roadblocks.
The OIP will address pharmacy operations, revenue cycle optimization, physician practice optimization, and other areas in need of improvement, according to Senker.
“Mon Health Medical Center, like many other hospitals, has been facing significant financial challenges over the last 12 months,” Senker wrote in the memo sent to employees. “Increases in operating expenses have outpaced our growth in revenues.”
The OIP is also designed to boost clinical care practice optimization, strategic sourcing, and workforce efficiency.
“The workforce efficiency component is only one element of the OIP, which also includes efforts through revenue cycle improvements, clinical documentation initiatives and improved strategic sourcing of supplies and pharmaceuticals, as well as a major investment in a new ambulatory electronic medical record,” Senker said.
The 189-bed hospital in Morgantown, West Virginia is the largest healthcare facility part of the Mon Health network. Other locations part of the Mon Health network include Mon Health Preston Memorial Hospital in Kingwood and the recently-acquired Mon Health Stonewall Jackson Memorial Hospital in Weston.
While investing in a new EHR system can help to boost clinical efficiency and revenue cycle management, some hospitals and health systems run into more problems with billing and patient care delivery after going live with a new system.
Providers at Tucson-based Banner Health have filed several medical error reports, as well as complaints about billing problems and slowdowns following a $45 million Cerner EHR implementation that went live October 2017.
Banner Health officials admitted they underestimated the scope of the project, and stated they are dedicating the necessary resources and time to resolving remaining problems and optimizing the system.
Date: July 30, 2018
Source: EHRIntelligence