PRODUCTS
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BENEFIS HEALTHCARE
GREAT FALLS, MONTANA
Medical Administrator’s Viewpoint
The following interview was conducted with Ms. Julie Hallfrisch, R.N., in March 2001. Ms. Hallfrisch is the Cardiac Registry Specialist at Benefis Healthcare in Great Falls, Montana. Ms. Hallfrisch is the Database Administrator and uses the Velos Cardiology system. In this interview, Ms. Hallfrisch shares her experience with Velos Cardiology.
Velos: What are the major value additions you
receive from using Velos?
Ms. Hallfrisch: As
any data manager would want for any data that you present to any
group of physicians or insurance carriers, you are going to want
valid and reliable data. If someone questions you, you know that it
is factual. The second would be the efficiency of data entry. You
know, time is money in any organization and the less time you spend
hitting keys, the better off we all are.
Velos: I see.
From an operations perspective, how does Velos help in terms of
quality and cost effectiveness relative to other alternative you
might have looked at?
Ms. Hallfrisch: I am
getting my data quickly and, with the Excel interface, I have the
ability to get exactly what year, what month, what physician, what
outcomes, all at my fingertips. Then I can generate a report very
fast by using the pivot tables for the physicians. If the physicians
request it, I can print data or they can view it on the screen. It
is really simple and flexible.
Velos: What kinds of
things do you and your physicians use Velos Essentials for in
addition to supplying data to the Societies?
Ms.
Hallfrisch: Oh, our physicians want to know exactly how many
procedures they are performing a month; our surgeons want to know:
the length of stay from procedure to discharge, what is the
predicted operative mortality is for the cases we are doing; how
many patients are we seeing with renal function deficits. That
information is all right there and as long as I have that data
entered, I can get it out.
Velos: Did you look at any other system alternatives?
Ms. Hallfrisch: I
went into the Internet sites of the ACC and STS, retrieved the
listing of everyone that was writing software and went through the
systems once I received information from the vendors. I did a
“strength and weakness” on each system and provided the information
to my Vice President who provided the information to Senior
Leadership of our hospital.
One plus for Velos was the cost
of the product, but the main one that drove our decision was that I
had access to past data. My STS data went all the way back to June
1990 and I had access to all that data with Velos. And I couldn’t
overlook the fact that I knew all the Velos tech support staff. They
pulled me through a lot with Vista and I knew those people and I
could count on their support. That was a great plus for me, having
those people to lean on.
The only weakness for Velos was the
uncertainty of the software certification by STS – but no vendor was
certified at that time.
Velos: Fabulous. Now, what was life before and after Velos?
Ms. Hallfrisch:
Well, I now have my comfort zone with Velos as I did with
Vista. I would like more time on my own to do more ad hoc query
running. I need to be more familiar with it and that will come with
time.
One of the major reports that my doctors would really
like is the calculation of the STS predicted mortality on an
identified group of patients – the STS Risk-Stratification Report.
It’s not required by the STS. I can run predicted mortality on
individual patients, but not on a group of patients over a period of
time, say a month. Other than that, I don’t have any major needs
Velos doesn’t address.
I think one of the strong points of
Velos is utilizing Excel. It is a powerful tool to manipulate the
data however you need it; to create your graphs, your reports.
That’s a big plus. I’m pretty familiar with Excel so that was an
easy one for me to get into.
Velos: Thank you, Julie.
Velos is a leading designer and developer of
next-generation healthcare information systems. Velos offers an
integrated suite of clinical, administrative, and financial products
and technology, bridging legacy and net-centric architectures. Velos
licenses its turn-key solutions and technology, together with
consulting and systems integration services, to healthcare
providers, systems vendors, and other industry suppliers. Velos is
privately held with headquarters in Silicon Valley.
For information regarding Velos, please contact Madalynne Chapman (510-608-5744 / mchapman@velos.com or visit www.velos.com.
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