University hospitals in cleveland frees up space, time and resources

Challenge:

Deliver superior patient care in an era of increasing competition and ever-changing healthcare reform.

Solutions:

Iron Mountain X-ray on Demand
Iron Mountain Records and Information Management Services

Value:

• Savings of $300,000 in the first year by not having to print or transport films.
• Improved response time for radiologists, increasing the overall level of patient care.
• Enhanced utilization of staffing resources and clinical space.
• Greater consistency in healthcare information management processes through a centralized solution.

Free up space, time and resources with centralized records management

When University Hospitals in Cleveland developed a new vision and strategy for healthcare delivery, they evolved from a single-site academic medical center into one of the nation’s leading, broad-based health care systems, providing high-quality, patient-centered medical care across locations throughout Northeast Ohio.

Living up to their core mission in the modern healthcare landscape

University Hospitals strives to deliver superior patient care in today’s ever changing and increasingly competitive healthcare environment. With a core mission to heal, to teach, and to discover, University Hospitals serves patients across 12 hospitals and 25 ambulatory locations. According to the hospital’s Radiology PACS Manager, Beverly Rosipko, managing health information to support the varied departments and facilities across the health system has become more challenging as of late with recent healthcare reform and regulation.

“One of the primary obstacles we’re facing is driven by the transition to electronic records. We have all the data, now it just comes down to being able to manage it and provide the best care for our patients as quickly as possible.”

Beverly Rosipko, Radiology PACS Manager

“One of the biggest challenges we’re facing is the change in health insurance,” Rosipko said. “We’re constantly trying to prepare and be aware of what’s going on to keep up with today’s healthcare reform.”

Additionally, as the healthcare industry continues to head toward an increasingly electronic state, there is a need for University Hospitals to accelerate their transition to electronic medical records.

As University Hospitals began their Picture Archiving and Communication System (PACS) rollout across their network of hospitals, they realized that they would need to rethink the way they were delivering records to their radiologists. To meet the radiologists’ Service Level Agreements (SLAs), fast access to patient images was required. According to Rosipko, this was the trigger that prompted the search for a new way of managing these records.

Capitalizing on a proven partnership

“Iron Mountain works very collaboratively with us. They’re a true partner. Some businesses are only out for themselves, but Iron Mountain is truly looking out for us and our best interests.”

Beverly Rosipko, Radiology PACS Manager

Iron Mountain had been a longstanding records management partner for University Hospitals – protecting and managing not only their x-ray film, but also the rest of their patient records and other documentation at Iron Mountain Record Centers

University Hospitals considered installing digitizers at each of their locations to meet the tight radiologist SLAs; however, this would require installing scanning equipment for both mammography and x-rays at multiple locations with significant cost implications.

Capitalizing on this proven partnership, the hospital decided to further their relationship with Iron Mountain. By deploying Iron Mountain® X-ray on Demand service and storing their source films with Iron Mountain, the hospital was able to more efficiently and cost effectively digitize and manage their records.

Results

“Our top priority is always patient care,” Rosipko said. “This solution helped address this priority by improving turnaround time for the radiologists”.

Additionally, with limited staff and many competing priorities, saving resources is always important. With this solution, University Hospitals was able to transition over four staffing resources to other key functions, including scheduling and patient access.

With space within the health system at a premium, the Iron Mountain services helped University Hospitals to free-up space in multiple facilities throughout their entire health network.

“As the patient films were transitioned to Iron Mountain storage, each of the community hospitals was able to leverage the space saved to meet some of their pressing needs for more productive use,” Rosipko said.

Finally, the solution was able to help reduce costs, which is particularly important in this era of health reform. By digitizing the x-rays and eliminating the need to print films and transport to facilities, University Hospitals was able to save nearly $300,000 in the first year alone.