UNC Health Care realized its ‘One Patient, One Chart’ vision by merging disparate systems into a unified EMR. Hyland’s solutions streamlined data access and improved workflows. Clinical images and documents were consolidated, reducing costs and enhancing patient care. Integration between imaging and EMR eliminated DVDs for image sharing, expediting consultations. UNC Health achieved HIMSS Stage 7 recognition, showcasing its digital transformation and commitment to efficient, patient-centered care.
UNC Health Care has realized its ambitious goal of unifying patient information through the successful merger and consolidation of more than four distinct record systems into a singular, enterprise-wide Electronic Medical Record (EMR) system.
As UNC Health experienced growth and acquired multiple hospitals and clinics, the complexity of their IT management increased, leading to inefficiencies in data retrieval for both clinicians and staff. Despite transitioning to an Epic EMR, which granted clinicians access to structured data, challenges persisted in accessing medical images, medical device reports, EKGs, clinical consult notes, and more. These crucial pieces of information were scattered across various Picture Archiving and Communication Systems (PACS) and document management systems, hindering effective patient record management, business continuity, and disaster recovery planning.
After a comprehensive evaluation of various vendors, UNC Health Care chose Hyland as their solution provider due to its capacity to capture, index, and seamlessly integrate documents, media, and images within EMR, Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP), and Human Resources Information Systems (HRIS) workflows.
On the clinical front, UNC Health Care made significant progress by implementing Hyland’s Acuo vendor-neutral archive, effectively consolidating medical images stored across multiple facilities into a unified clinical image repository. This repository, in conjunction with the NilRead diagnostic viewer, facilitated universal access within the Epic workflow. This transition allowed UNC Health to eliminate nine PACS and three reporting systems, resulting in tangible cost savings and reduced support and enhancement expenses.
Additionally, UNC Health employed Hyland’s OnBase content services platform to index and store unstructured patient documents such as EKGs and consult notes. These documents were seamlessly integrated into the patient context, enhancing their utility within the Epic EMR workflow.
The integration between the imaging system and the EMR yielded notable patient-centric benefits. Gone are the days of burning DVDs to share images across different UNC Health facilities. Instead, electronic access to images has become enterprise-wide and nearly real-time, expediting physician consultations and decreasing the need for redundant imaging tests.
UNC Health further harnessed the capabilities of Hyland Healthcare’s content services platform to enhance operational efficiency, streamline workflows, and reduce costs. Their implementation encompassed document capture, machine learning-based classification, data extraction, and automated workflow in the realm of enterprise resource planning, resulting in improved accuracy of pass-through processes and invoice handling.
By leveraging technology effectively, UNC Health Care has successfully undergone digital transformation, attaining the distinguished Stage 7 recognition across three HIMSS analytics domains: the Electronic Medical Record Adoption Model, the Outpatient Electronic Medical Record Adoption Model, and the Adoption Model for Analytics Maturity. This achievement underscores their commitment to delivering exceptional patient care through streamlined, integrated, and advanced healthcare solutions.
