The T System(R) Increases Workflow Efficiency, Speeds Billing For Keystone Healthcare Management

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Article Date: 10 Jun 2008 - 3:00 PDT

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Keystone Healthcare Management, Inc., a broad-based physician staffing, management, and consulting company specializing in Emergency Department (ED) operations, has consolidated its charting needs with T-System, Inc. By moving from two other charting systems to The T System® for Physicians, Keystone has lowered operational costs, increased coding accuracy, shortened reimbursement time, and simplified compliance procedures for its client hospitals.

Founded in 1996, Keystone is highly regarded for its outsourced ED staffing and management services. The company currently serves 17 suburban and rural hospitals in New York and Mississippi. "Our value-add is attention to detail," said Glenn Adams, President of Keystone Healthcare Management. "In addition to providing highly skilled physicians, nurse practitioners, and physician assistants, our administrative expertise ensures that hospitals receive the most cost effective staffing solution. We also know how to train providers to ensure quality and thorough documentation so that clinical errors are minimized and reimbursement is appropriately captured."

It was this specialized knowledge that led Adams and his team to begin evaluating The T System for Physicians last year. "I first met with T-System at a conference in late spring of 2007," Adams recalled. "We were already working with two other well-regarded charting vendors, but the more I talked with T-System's experts I realized there were real opportunities for improvement."

"Keystone did a good job of educating and training their physicians with respect to documentation, but we saw opportunities for improvement with a more clinically-focused platform that would better meet the needs of its physicians and healthcare information management (HIM) group," said Suzy Wier, Senior VP of Sales and Chief Nursing Officer for T-System, Inc. "The usability and room for customizations within the templates are real strengths of The T System." The T System, proven in over 1,700 clinical deployments around the world, is a paper-based charting system that speeds documentation time, one of the most challenging aspects of emergency department operations. Built around an easy circle-and-backslash paradigm, The T System for Physicians, the centerpiece of the system, reduces risk by producing a clear, defensible record in a very short period of time. It also allows doctors to document a patient's diagnosis and treatment while at the bedside - providing physicians and patients with more time together.

After seeing the efficiencies possible by using The T System for Physicians, Adams and his staff made the decision to move from its two existing charting systems to The T System. In December, 2007, Keystone deployed the new charting system in the emergency departments of Bertrand Chaffee Hospital (Springville NY); Inter-Community Memorial Hospital (Newfane NY); Lockport Memorial Hospital (Lockport NY); and Hardy Wilson Memorial Hospital (Hazelhurst MS). A fifth hospital, Noxubee General Hospital in Macon, Mississippi, will implement the system by mid-April of this year.

"The T System helps differentiate Keystone," Adams observes. "It's not just a document platform. Workflows, nursing education, regulatory compliance, coding, billing - they're all dependent on the quality of the physician's chart. By having templates customized to our way of doing things, we are more efficient, and more accurate. Furthermore, we save money for our client hospitals as well as ourselves. Our physicians are happy and excited that we switched - and so are our clients."

About T-System

Founded over a decade ago, T-System, Inc. and T-System Technologies, Ltd. (The T System), combine an uncommon collaboration of clinicians, technologists and service professionals dedicated to serving the current and future clinical information and technology needs of emergency medicine. Headquartered in Dallas, Texas, T-System is the leading provider of clinically accepted emergency department information system (EDIS) solutions. Today, more than 2,000 civilian and military EDs in the United States, Puerto Rico, Australia and around the world partner with T-System to make the best patient care a reality for everyone. For more information, please visit http://www.tsystem.com or contact Joe Lastinger at (800) 667-2482.

About Keystone Healthcare Management

Since 1996, Keystone has successfully staffed and managed hospital emergency departments resulting in enthusiastically satisfied hospital clients and physician groups. Keystone's goal is to provide the means for hospitals to maximize their business potential by streamlining work processes and strengthening relationships with patients, employees, and partners. The Keystone team of professionals is dedicated to resolving the unique management challenges inherent in the practice of emergency medicine, ambulatory services, and hospitalist medicine. For more information, please visit http://www.keystonehealthcare.com

About T-System

Founded over a decade ago, T-System, Inc. and T-System Technologies, Ltd. (The T System), combine an uncommon collaboration of clinicians, technologists and service professionals dedicated to serving the current and future clinical information and technology needs of emergency medicine. Headquartered in Dallas, Texas, T-System is the leading provider of clinically accepted emergency department information system (EDIS) solutions. Today, more than 2,000 civilian and military EDs in the United States, Puerto Rico, Australia and around the world partner with T-System to make the best patient care a reality for everyone. For more information, please visit http://www.tsystem.com or contact Joe Lastinger at (800) 667-2482.

http://www.tsystem.com