Wyoming Medical Center, an acute care hospital in Casper, Wyoming, has selected ezDI’s computer-assisted coding (CAC) software for its Clinical Documentation Improvement (CDI) and medical coding needs.
"ezCAC just makes our workflow much more organized,” concluded Mr. Belveal, Director for Health Information Management at Wyoming Medical Center.
Wyoming Medical Center, an acute care hospital in Casper, Wyoming, has selected ezDI’s computer-assisted coding (CAC) software for its Clinical Documentation Improvement (CDI) and medical coding needs. Based on a proprietary Natural Language Processing (NLP) engine, ezNLP, and a patent pending ICD-10 solution - ezCAC is an enterprise-level coding solution that combines CDI, Coding, Quality and Compliance Auditing modules as well as Encoder integration.
The hospital’s decision to switch its current medical coding technology to ezCAC was based upon the solution’s revolutionary workflow enhancement, integrated healthcare data management capability and return on investment (ROI), according to Nick Belveal, Director for Health Information Management at Wyoming Medical Center.
Mr. Belveal said that the hospital was not in the market for a CAC solution primarily because the high cost of a system quoted from other CAC vendors. But, "when I saw the workflow design and realized the potential cost savings of the ezDI system during the initial demo, I was eager to present the system to other senior decision makers at the hospital. “When we presented it and discussed the expected cost savings, we didn’t even mention CDI. We were able to justify the coding portion alone, without even taking CDI into consideration," said Mr. Belveal.
The comprehensive solution also helps the hospital streamline and organize the process of preparing progress notes and discharge summaries. Currently, each progress note is created individually and has to be closed before another could be opened. Some doctors dictate progress notes that can run up to 10 pages long, often with repeated information from the previous day’s notes, leading to a lot of duplication. And the coder has to read through the note fully. “But, with ezDI’s advanced NLP technology, clinical evidence and indicators are automatically presented in every document to let CDI and Coders know what they need to pay attention to. That saves our coders so much time, and we estimate a 20% increase in productivity,” said Belveal.
Similarly, when processing a Discharge Summary in their current system, when one coder put the document on hold, it was labeled as pending. There is no further indication for other coders to determine whether the document has been worked on or coded by another coder, or by whom.
“ezCAC just makes our workflow much more organized,” concluded Mr. Belveal.
ezDI provides best in class Computer-Assisted Coding (CAC) using Natural Language Processing (NLP) technology that incorporates computational linguistics and a deep knowledge base for both coding and CDI. The solution is a single, enterprise platform that sits atop the various systems within a hospital allowing their seamless integration into the coding/CDI workflow to deliver real-time management controls. Specific features include user configurable coder/CDI work lists populated with required documentation elements to allow review, automated physician query automation by coders and CDI based on clinical indicators within the health record, DRG analysis tools, compliance/audit functionality incorporating industry regulations and many other features.
Wyoming Medical Center is a not-for-profit (501c3) acute care hospital located in the center of Wyoming. The hospital offers 217 patient beds, more than 969,000 square feet space covering four city blocks, 233 providers on staff and comprehensive medical services with a wide range of specialties.
Headquartered in Louisville, Kentucky and established in 2009, ezDI (a venture of Mediscribes, Inc.) is a leading provider of Integrated Cloud-based Healthcare Information Management Solutions including Computer-Assisted Coding and Automated CDI. The company leverages cutting-edge technologies including Natural Language Processing, Semantic Web and High Performance Cloud Computing to help health care providers identify high risk patients, disease patterns, treatment outcomes and manage their healthcare data effortlessly. ezDI has been named as one of the top 100 highly innovative companies at TiECon 2014 and ranked #1 in the Semantic Evaluation of Clinical Data (SemEval) competition for the year 2015.