Epiphany Healthcare Blog

Congratulations! You’ve realized that implementing a Healthcare IT software program such as Cardio Server will help your organization become more efficient, save money, and eliminate manual steps, thus saving time. You’ve done a lot of research to get to this point. However, now you’ve reached a new challenge, which is getting your department and supervisors to agree that implementing this particular software, in fact, is the right decision for your organization. Below are a few recommendations that can help you with the next steps.

1. Leverage testimonials and reference accounts

If you know of another hospital that has been successful with the software you’re recommending, promote their success story to your team. If you need a reference account to contact for more specific feedback regarding their opinions on Cardio Server, just ask an Epiphany Representative and we can provide references that had similar requirements.

2. Get buy-in from your physicians

If you’re making a recommendation that your physicians adopt a new software program, it’s a good idea to make sure they’re on board, or better yet excited, to use the application. Epiphany’s Physician Overview Video is a helpful tool because it’s a tour of our software from their perspective. They can also sign up for a live webinar, customized for a physician’s workflow needs.

3. Put your vendor team to work

Epiphany representatives have the tools needed to provide you with a free workflow analysis to help you position our software to your departments. The end product of this discussion is a visual overview of what manual steps our software eliminates, an estimate of potential cost-savings, and labor costs that can be reduced. Seeing the results is an eye-opener for decision-makers, as it helps determine overall ROI.

4. Reduce uncertainty

Once you make a decision on an application, let your team know what will happen next. Feel free to schedule a consultation with our Implementations Director to talk about the Epiphany process going forward. Having all of these details up front will drastically help your team and supervisors to get the big picture before a final decision is made.

We want to empower you to improve patient care at your organization, and often improving the technology behind your daily workflow is a giant step in the right direction. Consider the steps above to help get your team and/or supervisors on board. Your Epiphany team is here to help you make an informed decision that you’re happy with.

Epiphany has been heavily vested in cloud computing for many years. Research and development, customer support, HR, payroll, employee benefits, document control, and our Quality System all reside in the cloud. Most businesses, outside of medicine, routinely maintain the majority of their infrastructure in the Cloud.

From Help Net Security, 07.16.2018: “86% of enterprises have adopted a multi-cloud strategy.”

Epiphany is confident that the time has come to take advantage of the cloud to manage your ECG and other clinical data.

Recent articles discussing hospitals moving to the cloud include:

• Cloud Decision Center, 07.26.2018: Exploring the Strategic Benefits of Moving to the Cloud

• HIMSS Learning Center, 08.14.2018: Leveraging Cloud to Revolutionize Health IT…

• HIMSS Learning Center, 06.21.2018: HIPAA Cloud Services: Run Healthcare Workloads in the Oracle Cloud

• Cloud Decision Center, 06.14.2018: EHRs in the Cloud: why smaller healthcare providers are making the leap

• HIMSS Learning Center, 04.28.2018: Enabling Innovation in Healthcare Through Technology…

• Cloud Decision Center, 04.10.2018: Healthcare specialties find efficiencies and more in the Cloud

The cloud allows us to think about a new way to solve version-control issues. Instead of waiting for major upgrades, we will frequently patch systems with smaller security and feature updates. With the hospital’s agreement, Epiphany will commit to maintaining all of our interfaces and exports without modifications. Each patch will include documentation on the improvements. This commitment will allow hospitals to keep their system current without expensive upgrade projects.

Take advantage of the following financial benefits by moving to Epiphany Cloud Services:

• Operating budget vs. capital budget

• Reduced implementation and start-up costs

• Lower five-year lifecycle costs

Reduce your IT footprint and its responsibilities by moving the following to the cloud:

• Single-tenancy servers and data storage

• High-availability virtual environment to minimize down time

• Epiphany production and test environments

• Secure business-to-business encrypted virtual private network (VPN)

• Cyber security, malware, and virus protection

• Third-party operating systems, patches, and upgrades

• Backup and disaster recovery

Additional significant value-added capabilities from Epiphany Cloud Services:

• Cardio Server Mobile included

• Proactive system monitoring to catch failures before they happen

• Frequent Epiphany software and security updates and patches

• Annual backup and disaster recovery technology testing

• Annual software version penetration testing

 

Document scanning ECGs is an unfortunate reality for many hospitals. It does not manage ECGs, one of the most prolific diagnostic tests performed in a hospital, or other cardiopulmonary test results. While document scanning roughly satisfies the meaningful-use standard, it fails clinicians with its inherent delays, low-quality resolution, and lack of physician tools. It is, essentially, an expensive junk drawer where clinicians become frustrated and lose their patience.

ECG management solves all the problems of document scanning.

Delayed Access

While document scanning roughly satisfies the meaningful–use standard (diagnostic test results posted in the electronic health record (EHR) to give to the patient or for interoperability), document scanning comes with inherent delays. Most hospitals, because of a chronic backlog of patient records, scan documents into the EHR days after the patient is discharged. These delays lead to the question: How meaningful are scanned diagnostic test results if they cannot be used to manage a patient while the patient is still in the hospital?

ECG management, by contrast, transfers the ECG from the cardiograph to the management system in seconds.  Clinicians read in the management system from anywhere they access the hospital network, including their iPhones and iPads. Clinicians use electronic tools to enter interpretations, including pick-list favorites; they send confirmed results to the EHR with a single click. Those confirmed ECGs are immediately available to manage their patients while still in the hospital.

Low Quality

Beyond the delays, we often hear that the scanned ECGs look ‘bent’ or ‘crooked’ or ‘wrinkled.’ They are low quality. Additionally, scanned ECGs lose their diagnostic aspect. ECGs calibrate at 25 mm/second, 10 mm/mV.  Document scanning corrupts calibration as it is a picture of the ECG, one cannot use calipers on a scanned ECG.  Furthermore, the standard of care in ECG interpretation is to compare the current ECG to the previous ECG and comment on what has changed. This is only possible manually with document scanning. 

ECG management, on the other hand, paints the ECG on the screen from a raw-data file feed. The quality is the same as the printout from the cardiograph. Because the ECG contains raw data, electronic calipers for measurement corrections are available. All the patient’s previous ECGs are stored in the ECG management system, serial comparison of ECG results is automatic, thus easily satisfying the standard of care.

Expensive

Document scanning is labor intensive. Multiple workflow analyses demonstrate an average savings of $7 per ECG with an ECG management system in place. Automating ECG management allows skilled staff to focus on patient care.

Junk Drawer

Imagine a junk drawer in a kitchen. It contains pens and scissors and take-out menus and birthday candles and tape and a little bit of everything. To find any particular item often requires taking everything out of the junk drawer, which is always frustrating. By analogy, the media folder or image folder in the EHR is a junk drawer. All the otherwise orphaned diagnostic test results get jumbled together in one repository (ECGs mixed with stress tests mixed with cardiac rehab results, etc.). Finding a particular test result means opening many of them until the one in question is found. Clinicians are busy. They express frustration to us about how long it takes to find a particular test result in their EHR junk drawers; sometimes they give up.

ECG management, on the other hand, identifies all the cardiopulmonary modalities that apply to the patient in their own ‘buckets.’ Finding a particular ECG from a given date is simple. Clinicians use it; patient care is improved by it.

Document scanning thousands of ECGs every year into the EHR is an unfortunate reality for many hospitals.  Document scanning is an inefficient use of hospital resources and impedes the clinician workflow by its delays, lack of tools for study interpretation, and easy accessibility for study retrieval. ECG management is the real solution for achieving patient, physician, and staff satisfaction.

 

MIDLOTHIAN, VA, January 4, 2019 – With the mission to simplify the collection and management of diagnostic test results, Epiphany Healthcare is excited to announce its new mobile platform, Cardio Server Mobile.   This new responsive web technology enables providers to access and edit ECG data from anywhere with iOS devices.

Cardio Server Mobile is designed for and supports iOS smart devices, which makes it responsive and easy to use. Information is secure with no patient data remaining on the device after the Web session is ended.  

Steve Fetrow, VP of Engineering at Epiphany had this to say about Cardio Server Mobile, "Security and potential HIPAA violations were a key driver for the development of Cardio Server mobile.   Customers described how the medical staff used their smartphones creatively to handle emergent cardiac issues. They would photograph 12-lead ECGs and insecurely message the image to physicians for an emergency overread.  Cardio Server Mobile can reduce the risk of HIPAA violations by securely displaying the diagnostic quality ECG and provide access to previous ECGs on any authorized user's iPhone or iPad."

About Cardio Server:

Epiphany’s Cardio Server is a cost-effective, web-based management system that receives, manages, and exports diagnostic test results to the EHR. Cardio Server is vendor-neutral and communicates with over 260 devices from over 80 vendors. Cardio Server provides easier integration since it accepts data from 23 different modality types such as PFT, stress, Holter, patient monitors, and more.

About Epiphany Healthcare:

With over 900 hospital customers worldwide, Epiphany Healthcare is committed to serving its customers’ needs through product innovation, the delivery of exceptional service, and an unwavering dedication to improving clinical workflow. Discover why Epiphany is the preferred provider when managing multi-vendor, multi-modality diagnostic test data. For more information, please visit http://www.epiphanyhealthdata.com, follow Epiphany on Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/EpiphanyHealthcare/) Twitter (@epiphhealth), or Linkedin (http://www.linkedin.com/company/epiphany-healthcare).

 

 

Customer background

Headquartered in Midlothian, Virginia, Epiphany Healthcare delivers an ECG management system, Cardio Server, which simplifies clinical workflow and enables healthcare providers to securely access ECG data and other diagnostic test results from anywhere. Supporting over 950 hospitals and healthcare providers worldwide, Epiphany is committed to serving customers’ needs through product innovation and exceptional service.

The business challenges

As a leading provider of healthcare technology solutions, Epiphany handles significant amounts of HIPAA regulated information. The company recently sought to implement solutions that would enhance the security when transferring sensitive, regulated healthcare data, including ECG studies containing PHI, between Epiphany and healthcare providers, partners, and internal users, specifically:

1. Secure, encrypted email communications when discussing regulated or sensitive patient information.
2. Secure, streamlined process for healthcare providers to upload patient ECG information to its servers.

“We needed something universal that encrypts emails, that everyone could be a part of, and that didn’t require us to change our email system. We were also looking for a new FTP site. Finding a system that delivered both made me look like an all-star.” said Chad McQuarrie, System Administrator at Epiphany Healthcare.

“Thanks to Egress everything is secure and compliant." Chad McQuarrie, System Administrator, Epiphany Healthcare

The solution: The Egress Platform

Following a review of various products, Epiphany selected the Egress data security platform, specifically Egress Email and File Protection and Egress Secure Web Form.

• Egress Email and File Protection offers easy-to-use, flexible encryption that provides the highest levels of security. In addition to encrypting message contents and attachments, it enables total control over shared information in real time, with the ability to revoke access, audit user actions and add message restrictions to prevent mishandling of sensitive data.

• Egress Secure Web Form delivers fully customizable web-based forms that enable third parties to easily upload files and submit them to the organization in an encrypted format. McQuarrie was particularly relieved to find a solution to both challenges from a single vendor as it made management a lot easier.

Easy set up and support

The seamless integration with Epiphany’s existing G-Suite and Microsoft Office platforms was a significant benefit for McQuarrie and his team. It meant that no changes were needed to existing work processes, no end-user training was required, and no additional infrastructure purchases were necessary.

“It was one of the smoothest deployments I have ever experienced, and the Egress Support team is one of the best I have ever seen. They worked collaboratively with me and were very hands on!”commented McQuarrie.

Secure sensitive email communications

Used across the company to secure communications between Epiphany and healthcare providers, partners, and internal users, Email and File Protection automatically encrypts emails containing HIPAA, PHI and other sensitive or regulated information.

McQuarrie and Epiphany users particularly like the solution’s seamless and simple integration with G-Suite and Microsoft Office, including the ability to encrypt and decrypt content, directly from within an email, with one click. They also like the ability to log, track, and report when an encrypted email is opened.

“This is a big plus for us. I have logs on everything and it enables us to definitively prove compliance – which is a big bonus when undergoing a HIPAA audit,” commented McQuarrie. “It’s not just about proving what happened, it’s also about proving what didn’t happen. We can show that we’re really locked down and can prove that a breach did not happen.”

Secure portal for uploading sensitive data

In addition to Email and File Protection, Epiphany uses Egress’ Secure Web Form to create a web-based portal through which users can easily and securely submit ECG studies and other sensitive patient scans and files – all in compliance with HIPAA requirements. The ability to customize the forms, determine pre-approved file types and data workflows was very valuable to Epiphany. “Secure Web Form is extremely easy for our customers to use and it encrypts the data being uploaded – which is huge for us,” added McQuarrie.

Prior to using Egress, customers frequently asked how they should send ECG study data to Epiphany. “Thanks to Egress we now have established Standard Operating Procedures. Our processes are clear, we have a specific protocol, everything is secure and compliant, and there is no way to bypass the system. This is something we promote to our customers. Egress gives us and our customers confidence in our security and we all feel better about it,” commented McQuarrie.

HIPAA auditing and compliance

Epiphany recently underwent its annual HIPPA audit. As part of the audit, McQuarrie was asked to confirm the processes used to secure sensitive data. “I simply said, ‘we use Egress’ and I attached Egress’ documentation and outlined how we use the products, and that was it! That answered all the auditor’s questions. Egress helped us ace our audit,” commented McQuarrie. “Egress gets an A+ from me!”

 

 

 

We are thankful for our customers every day, especially during this Thanksgiving Season. As employees of Epiphany Healthcare sit around their tables this holiday season, we want you to know that at the top of our thankful list is you, our customers. Here are a few reasons why.

1. For Your Gifts To The World

The work you do to make the world a healthier place is life altering and lifesaving. You are the healthcare heroes, we are simply allowed to contribute to the tool belt that assists you in providing the best patient care.

We have the utmost respect for all of our customers and the caliber of healthcare professionals that you all are. Over 900 hospitals around the world have put their trust in us and we are very appreciative and thankful for every one of you.

2.Without You We Couldn't Give Our Gift To The World

To be able to assist you in the delivery of the healthcare you provide is why we, at Epiphany, come to work each day. Recently our employees were asked why they are thankful to work for Epiphany Healthcare. There was an overwhelming response of, “because of our amazing customers and how we are able to help them help others.” Here are a couple of direct responses.

Barbara Cotton, Implementation Specialist, “What we do makes a difference. I have seen this in my personal life since my family has a history of heart disease. And I love that we are like family.”

Brandon Baker, Project Manager, “The impact our product has on the clinicians and doctors and patients. Hearing the doctors come back and say ‘this is a great product’ gives a purpose to what I do, how I invest my day. The world is a better place because of what we delivered!”

We are thankful that we can assist our customers in any way to provide the outstanding customer care they deliver each day.

3. You Help Us Build Better Software

You help us improve our technology. You speak up about things that can be improved and we listen. We value your feedback. It is your suggestions that drive what goes into our future software updates. This supports our mission of assisting you in providing the best patient care. It’s our goal that you will always have access to the best quality product and services that we can provide for ECG workflow management.

This year has been a big one for Epiphany Healthcare with the many new products and upgrades that have released. We are looking forward to another outstanding year serving your workflow needs. We wouldn’t be here without you and we are so thankful for you!

Happy Thanksgiving from Epiphany Healthcare!

Does your hospital have any of these problems: delayed billing resulting in lost revenue, workflow noncompliance, understaffing/overstaffing, and/or training issues?

What if you could use clinical data from Epiphany Healthcare’s Cardio Server to help you improve your workflow and save money by identifying clinical inefficiencies for remediation?  Wouldn’t you want to?

By helping you pinpoint problem areas in your hospital’s operations, Epiphany Healthcare enables you to forecast staffing needs, evaluate performance metrics for staff, clinics and organizations, and schedule reports with automatic delivery.  How can we do all of that?

Leverage Data to Drive Quality Improvements.
Request More Information.

Introducing Epiphany Analytica™!

Your Reporting Source for Improved Workflow

• Capture the right metrics across your organization. Epiphany Analytica™ identifies costly trends and opportunities for improvement.
• Identify the cause of lost ECG revenue. Epiphany Analytica™ delivers the data needed to inspire change.
• Leverage easy-to-read graphs to provide insight to those who own the process. Precisely measure and display data-driven reports.
• Utilize data to encourage quality improvements. Equip your organization with the right tools at the right time.

Analytica™ allows hospitals to examine historical data to identify trends and get a sense of how departments and staff are performing.  With Analytica™, hospitals evaluate staffing needs, workload distribution, and potential training needs by comparing metrics week-to-week, month-to-month, or year-to-year.  The automated reporting schedule is customizable based on the hospital’s needs.  Automated report delivery eliminates delays and the risk of human error.  Analytica™ graphs measure progress toward meeting goals and performance targets.

Leverage data to drive quality improvements.  If you can’t measure the process, you can’t improve the process. Analytica™’s operational monitoring provides a snapshot of the health of your workflow.

Determine at a glance the efficiency of reading physicians and sites.  The unconfirmed-to-confirm time report from Analytica™ presents data on how long an ECG waits in the unconfirmed status to be read by the physician.  In some states insurance companies will deny the claim if it is not processed within a specific time frame?  This report allows evaluation of the readers’ efficiency in confirming a study, which is tied to how quickly the bill can go out. Delayed readings cause revenue loss due to late billing.  With this report see:

• Average time studies spend in the unconfirmed status
• Average time in unconfirmed by site
• Confirmations by site
• Average time by provider to confirm studies
• Number of studies confirmed by provider

Evaluate Technicians that Perform ECGs before Receiving Order Studies Missing Orders

Hold your staff accountable by finding trends and quickly identifying the day of the week and the time of day when there is an increase in studies without orders.  This report will shed light on the following:

• Number of studies missing orders by weekday and time of day
• Number of studies missing orders by each technician
• Number of studies missing orders by site
• The technician who performed each study

Evaluate the Effectiveness of Training and Tech Performance Create to Promote Time

 

Find out the average time from creation-to-promote by each technician with this report.  Determine the sites and technicians who are following protocol.  This report provides data on the time required for ECGs to reconcile to an order and be made available to the reading physician and the following:

• Shows percentage of studies that auto reconcile in 10 seconds or less
• How long it takes to get the study to the provider’s box to be read
• Shows percentage of studies that have delayed reconciliation and the average delay
• Average time each site took to promote a study to the unconfirmed status where the provider can read it

Capture the right metrics across your hospital and use them to make your clinical workflow as efficient as possible. Equip your organization with the right tools at the right time to communicate the full picture.  Identify the cause of lost ECG revenue by using clear graphical data. Analytica™ can identify costly trends in the clinical environment. Let it help you.

 

If you scan rhythm strips into your EMR, you know this is a labor-intensive and costly process. Epiphany now offers the ability to automatically store rhythm strips from your central monitoring station in your EMR.

Epiphany’s Rhythm Strip Management solution (RSM) takes rhythm-strip data in PDF format from the Philips Information Center (PIIC and PIIC iX) and automatically transfers the rhythm strips to the EMR as an unsolicited HL7 result. This is an elegant solution for the end user, considering the number of problems it solves for a hospital’s rhythm strip management workflow. 

At many hospitals, rhythm strip management workflow looks like this:

RNs and monitoring techs have to manually print, cut, and paste the rhythm strips; they often hand write a validation signature on those strips. Rhythm strips then have to be copied and scanned so that they can be viewed in the EMR. For those using a telemetry cockpit, complex workflows exist due to the volume of patients that are being monitored.

Epiphany’s RSM solution:

With Epiphany’s RSM, no more printing, pasting, or scanning is necessary. The costs associated with scanning and paper (thermal strip chart recorder or 8.5 x 11) are eliminated. The RN strip–validation process can occur in the EMR or in Epiphany. The rhythm strips are automatically transferred and quickly available in the EMR.  Epiphany’s RSM supports an unlimited number of rhythm strips per patient. Overall, after implementing Epiphany’s RSM, workflow is faster, accurate, and more efficient.

Ask for more information about this product and an Epiphany representative will contact you to discuss your rhythm strip management needs and review next steps.

 

Is the hospital you work for your home away from home?  Do you want your hospital to be the best it can be?  Do you see room for improvement but don’t know how to improve the efficiency of your hospital?

Most efficiency problems in any industry come down to one thing—communication.  The old saying, 'communication is the key to any good relationship,' also applies to the doctor/patient relationship.

If you can improve communication processes, you could cut costs while improving healthcare.  More fluid communication can reduce the time it takes for nurses and doctors to do their jobs.  More fluid communication allows doctors the ability to provide patients with more timely test results and care to reduce patients’ fear while waiting for the unknown.  

Here are three easy ways to streamline your hospital's communication and workflow.

Request a FREE Workflow Analysis

Make Your Hospital More Efficient by Simplifying Your Cardiology Workflow

Epiphany’s Cardio Server ECG Management System

Leave paper and the delays in its processing in the past.  Epiphany's Cardio Server ECG Management System has an intuitive user interface and is IT friendly.  It allows you to pull up ECG data and other diagnostic test results from anywhere in the hospital.  You can view ECGs from an iPhone or iPad or leverage our new Cardio Server Mobile Application.  This digital access eliminates the need for paper copies.  A doctor can easily pull up results at the patient’s bedside with a touch of a screen.

Make Your Hospital More Efficient by Simplifying Your Pulmonary Workflow

Pulmonary Server

Epiphany's Pulmonary Server allows users to access, view, edit, and electronically sign pulmonary studies and other diagnostic test data from anywhere in the hospital, office, or home.  It streamlines communications and hospital efficiency by saving time and reducing labor costs.  Just look what it did for the Cleveland Clinic.

Make Your Hospital More Efficient by Going to Paperless Rhythm Strips

Rhythm Strip Management

Epiphany's Rhythm Strip Management provides a solution to the labor-intensive challenges of patient monitoring strip management.  The application eliminates paper and the time it takes to cut it, scan it, file it, and read it.  Again, paper belongs in the past.  Anyone with access can pull up rhythm strips digitally and instantly.  This instant access reduces time and streamlines communication.

More timely communication makes hospitals more efficient.  Using these three, or even just one of these solutions, will streamline your hospital's communication.  Healthcare technology such as these applications will significantly improve the care-delivery experience for both the doctor and the patient.

 

Epiphany Healthcare prides itself on improving workflow efficiency for healthcare organizations.  Epiphany provides these organizations one software solution that manages all their different diagnostic tests.  Cardio Server allows doctors to access their ECG data and other diagnostic test results from anywhere in the healthcare organization, office, or home including smart devices.  This solution streamlines the nurse-to-doctor communication and gets results to patients sooner.

Learn More About Cardio Server

Health Centers are among the healthcare organizations that Epiphany helps to provide the best workflow solutions for.  Health Centers are non-profits that work toward the mission of serving to improve the health of patients in the community in which they live.

What is National Health Center Week

National Health Center Week is the time that is designated annually to recognize and bring awareness to America's Health Centers and the mission that drives them.  They provide necessary healthcare in the communities that need them most.  Their doors are open to virtually everyone.  They not only provide primary care to millions of patients but try to find solutions for the main health concerns within their community.

 Why Observe National Health Center Week

The people that work for Health Centers are on the front lines with bleeding hearts of hope and health for all each day.  Community health workers wear many more hats than simply assisting with healthcare needs.  They have many roles and are heroes of healthcare to people that otherwise have barriers to healthcare.  America’s Health Centers and their heroes should be recognized for the great work that they do.

How to Observe National Health Center Week

National Health Center Week in 2018 is Sunday, August 12^th through Saturday, August 18^th.  Each day has its own focus to celebrate, such as Children’s Health Day and Healthcare for the Homeless Day.  The National Association of Community Health Centers and the Health Center Advocacy Network are inviting everyone to celebrate these Health Centers and the heroes that work for them by participating in one or more of these designated days.  According to the National Health Center Week website, these are the focuses for each day.

 

Sunday, 8/12: Legislative Appreciation Day

Monday, 8/13: Honoring Health Center Heroes

Tuesday, 8/14: Public Housing Health Centers Day

Wednesday 8/15: Healthcare for the Homeless Day

Thursday, 8/16: Agricultural Worker Health Day

Friday, 8/17: Patient Appreciation Day

Saturday, 8/18: Children’s Health Day

 

If the focus days do not hit home with you or you’d like to show your appreciation to your community’s Health Center heroes in another way this week, by all means please do so.  Shout out to your Health Center heroes this week and show them some love.  Epiphany wishes all of our Health Center organizations and their staff a happy National Health Center Week.