Marty Bowden, right, a physical therapist with Visiting Nurse Health
System, and Linda McConnell, a health care coordinator at Sunrise Senior
Living of Decatur, look over a patient's medical record using Bowden's notebook
computer and a Verizon wireless cellphone card.
Physical therapist Marty Bowden, MPT, likes the flexibility of his schedule caring for people in their homes. He's been with Visiting Nurse Health System, the largest not-for-profit agency in Georgia (which serves 15,000 patients in a 26- county area), for eight years.
"I enjoy the one-on-one time with patients and their families," he said. "Visiting them several times a week in their home environment, I really get to know them as a therapist. You don't get the same investment of time in a clinic."
What he didn't like was spending several hours each evening downloading documentation from his laptop to the server at the of?ce. Now, he doesn't have to. A wireless card inserted into his laptop allows him to export and import charting information, anytime, anywhere.
"I can sit in the car right after a patient visit, type in my documentation and send it immediately," Bowden said. "The sooner you can document, the fresher you are. You capture more of the scenario having just been there."
Electronic charting is easier to read than handwriting and it improves interdisciplinary communication.
"Now the nurse who is visiting tomorrow can see how I found the patient today, and I can upload the complete chart of a new patient before I make the first visit," Bowden said. "If one of my patients goes to the hospital, I can immediately send a list of his medications and I have complete information at my fingertips if a doctor or an insurance company calls me.
"When you're working out on your own, you rarely see another clinician. If you can read everyone's notes and e-mail back and forth with questions, you feel more like you're part of a team."
Timely information is important, because home health clinicians are seeing more and sicker patients these days.
"The home health arena is growing based on demographics [aging baby boomers] and the trend to treat patients outside of high-cost institutionalized settings," said Weyman Perry, vice president of business development at VNHS.
Bowden is seeing people with joint replacements, multiple sclerosis, spinal cord injuries or strokes who have been released from the hospital earlier and who may not have had the benefit of a rehabilation facility.
"Efficiency measures are very important, because of the tremendous amount of documentation required now. The requirements are steep to comply with the regulations and be reimbursed for services," Perry said.
"We had to find ways to free up the precious resources of our clinicians and to make sure that they were using their time caring for patients and not doing paperwork."
VNHS developed its own point-of-care electroniccharting device in 1994,
and then adopted a more universal system in 1998 as technology created better
and easier ways to capture patient data, according to Deborah Gilkey, director
of management information systems at VNHS. "The technology keeps changing
and our clinicians now carry a 3-pound laptop with touch
screen," she said.
"Recognizing the need to save our clinicians time throughout the day
and provide them with an easier way to communicate with each other and the
office, we began installing wireless cards into the laptops," Gilkey
said. Previously, VNHS clinicians
would visit patients during the day and spend several hours in the evening
sending documentation via modem or phone line.
"The clinicians love it," Gilkey said. "They like the connectivity
and feeling more in control of their
time. They can accomplish more in a normal work day. The system helps everyone."
Receiving real-time information allows VNHS to be more efficient with its services and its billing, and that efficiency is important in a highly competitive environment.
"I don't know of any other agency doing this. I believe we're ahead of the curve in terms of wireless technology," Perry said.