Roswell Park Cancer Institute
Buffalo, NY
America's First Cancer Center Depends on Schedule Maximizer®
Manages Complex Treatment Regimens and Complicated Scheduling Processes
The Challenges
Roswell Park Cancer Institute’s Oncology department had been making do with the limited functionality in an outdated
HIS scheduling module. Oncology departments face special scheduling challenges. Cancer patients require recurring
scheduling where appointments need to be slated for an entire treatment plan encompassing many resources over weeks. The
timing of treatments is an especially crucial factor in chemo therapy, and frequent requests for urgent appointments too
often resulted in excessive overbookings, even for a culture tolerant of overlapped appointments.
The crux of the problem was that the old scheduling module had no way to set up multi-layered processes to handle the complexities of scheduling appointments, especially for infusion therapy. Patient Access staff was left on its own to accomplish the many associated tasks for managing these appointments.
In addition, the system was not working at all for the critical area of New Patient scheduling. Staff there had been forced to track these longer, multi-resource timeslots manually in a paper logbook—a method frustratingly inadequate to handle the growing volume.
The Goal
It was more than time to find a new system that could streamline and standardize decentralized Access Management processes
for the separate cancer treatment locations in its enterprise. Roswell Park oncology resources and facilities had the
capacity to treat the growing volume of patients. What was needed was a sophisticated, flexible scheduling solution that
would automate appointment processes to maximize utilization and keep patients moving though its clinical services.
The Solution
After an extensive product evaluation process, Roswell Park found what it was seeking: A comprehensive web-based Access
Management solution that let them leverage its current staff and clinical resources. The Oncology department implemented
SCI’s Schedule Maximizer in 2004 at its three treatment locations. “This decision is reinforced daily,” says Charnese
R. Felix, M.A, Department Administrator, Therapeutic Services and Patient Access. “Our staff places
huge stock in using features no other system offers and would shutter at the thought of working without them ever again.”
Scheduling staff is very adept at using the easy-to-navigate system and, despite the complex processes; new staff learns to use the self-guiding system within two weeks through a combination of training in the classroom and on-the-job observation.
Before implementing the rules-engine driven system, the department had customized SCI’s built-in templates using the tools provided to clearly define and support their uniquely sensitive processes—time they consider enormously well spent. Because of that effort, schedulers and clinicians did not have to change the way they want to work and are assured every detail was addressed. “What did change,” says Felix, “was the volume of patients we’re now able to treat due to efficient, accommodating scheduling.”
The Results
Schedule Mazimizer automation dramatically improved Roswell Park’s Access Management processes, creating time-saving
efficiencies that include these revenue-generating benefits:
- Maximized physician capacity without overbooking and according to individual preferences
- Efficient, easy-to-monitor New Patient appointments, booked and blocked without overlap and segmented by physicians for months out
- Concurrent scheduling of patient and treatment chair and prescribed drug, ensuring successful patient visits
- Trigger alert to schedule “urgent” radiology requests if appointment is within 48 hours
- Prompts for scheduling prerequisite lab or radiology services 30 minutes before treatment, optimizing patients’ on-site time
- Track authorizations, referrals, slides, due dates etc., so nothing is overlooked or falls through the cracks
- Convenient way to quickly pull film, reschedule and pre-admit patients through the system’s Worklist functions, saving hours of time
- Report number of new patients by physician, valuable in evaluating growth and utilization
- Notify physicians of overbookings so they can evaluate patient care priorities
- Enable clinical practitioners to pro-actively monitor flow of patient appointments so they can manage schedules and optimize patient appointments
- Account creation at time of scheduling, starting revenue cycle before patient arrives
- Integrate data with HIS system to coordinate with patient’s medical and financial records
Since implementation in Oncology, volume for its three treatment clinics has tripled. Where once a clinic could schedule 30 patients for a day, it now handles 100 appointments without the stress and extra work of reconciling unwieldy overbookings, especially for new patients.
Due to overwhelming success for Oncology services, today nearly every clinical department in the cancer institute uses Schedule Maximizer to manage scheduling processes.
The Quotes
“Our SCI Schedule Maximizer system has made it easier for Patient Access schedulers and clinical staff to get information
necessary for smooth workflow.”
“The system has essentially eliminated the potential for patient visit missteps due to scheduling tasks slipping through the cracks.”
“No other scheduling solution has as many features as Schedule Maximizer. Our staff and clinicians depend on it to handle our complex scheduling processes and keep workflow moving at top capacity.”
client quote:
“SCI Order Facilitator has streamlined our orders workflow, increased provider and patient satisfaction and reduced operational delays.”
Mary Godwin, Manager Centralized Scheduling
Baptist Health Care
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