HOSPITAL MANAGEMENT SYSTEM
- Designed to manage all the areas of a hospital such as medical, financial, administrative and the
corresponding processing of services.
Features
- HL-7(Health Level-7) interfaces across all modules that facilitate standards conformance.
- Flow of the financial data with centralized information to the payer modules.
- Data for the management reviews displays graphically by executive information system (EIS).
- The billing, insurance processing modules effectively process clinical data for efficient payout for health
encounters.
Objectives
Main objectives of a Hospital Management System are:
- Design a system for better patient care.
- Reduce hospital operating costs.
- Provide MIS (Management Information System) report on demand to management for better decision
making.
- Better co-ordination among the different departments.
- Provide top management a single point of control.
- Hospital management System handles activities of major departments in a hospital like:
1.Front Office/OPD Management
2. Patient management (scheduling, registration and long-term care)
3. Patient care management and departmental modules (radiology, pharmacy and pathology labs)
4. Laboratories
5. Billing
6. Medical Stores
7. Financial Accounting (billing, insurance processing, materials management, accounts
payable/receivable, payroll and general ledger)
8. Payroll
Hospital management system can be developed by using waterfall model. This model describes a
development method that is linear and sequential. It has distinct goals for each phase of development. In this
model once, a phase of development is completed, there is no turning back, the development proceeds to the
next phase. The advantage of this model is that it allows for departmentalization and managerial control.
Front Office/OPD Management
- OPD is defined as a part of the hospital with allotted physical facilities and medical and other staff,
with regularly schedules hours, to provide care for patients who are not registered as inpatients.
- A hospital department where patients receive diagnosis and/or treatment but do not stay
overnight.
- OPD is a very important wing of hospital serving as mirror.
- OPD is visited by large section of community.
- First point of contact between patient and hospital staff.
- The human relation skill/public relation function are of utmost importance.
Objectives of OPD
- Provide for the community a major source of specialist diagnostic medical opinion by mixing the
knowledge, skills and ability of the specialist and supported by the resources of the hospital.
- To refer patients for admission to the hospital of those who need it. About 80% of total
admissions are through OPD.
LABORATORY SERVICES
ROLE AND FUNCTION OF LAB
- Attend to ailing patients
- Carry out investigations asked
- Prompt issue of accurate result
- Provide diagnostic information to physician for further management
FUNCTIONAL COMPONENTS OF LABOARTORY
- Histopathology: organ, tissue, cell examination
- Clinical Pathology: Examination of body fluids-blood, urine, sputum, stool, pleural and peritoneal fluids.
- Microbiology: Examination of bacteria, viruses, parasites etc.
- Biochemistry (Chemical Path.): Examination of chemical substances e.g. hormones, enzymes, etc.
- Clinical Research Labs
TYPES OF LABORATORY
- OPD Services
- Ward Services
- Emergency Services
- - Round the clock service
- Restricted Emergency Services
Patient Management System
- also known as clinic management software, patient manager software, medical patient software
or medical practice management software (MPM).
- It refers to a number of efficient automated systems designed for tracking patient information,
diagnoses, prescriptions, interactions and encounters within healthcare organizations like medical
clinics or hospitals.
Benefits of Patient Management Automation
Patient management information systems offer a range of benefits to providers big and small. Here are just a
few of them:
1. Ease Overburdened Staff
Administrative staffing is one of the big drivers of high healthcare costs. Automating routine processes like
patient flow management helps medical clinics and hospitals minimize their administrative expenses. It
does this by reducing the amount of data entry tasks the front desk staff is expected to perform, which lets
them make the most of their working hours. It also helps maintain efficiency — by easing workloads, it lets
the same number of staff members perform better, more meaningful work.
2. Practice Management
Solo practices benefit significantly from patient/practice management systems because of their limited
resources. A patient management system helps streamline every element of a medical office including
recordkeeping, charting, patient scheduling, claims processing and billing functions.
3. Timely Patient Care
Larger clinics and hospitals can enjoy similar benefits to smaller ones but have the added bonus of making
patient-related processes more efficient. Because large practices have a heavy patient flow, the scheduling
features of MPM are crucial to operations. Having an organized patient intake flow can mean the difference
between a calm, orderly waiting room and a packed hotbed of irritation and frustration. A comprehensive
management program enables immediate record transfers, enhances patient workflow and eliminates
treatment errors that result from inaccurate or incomplete paper records. The best patient management
system allows providers to deliver timely, accurate and better-quality patient care.
4. Organization
Practice management software offers charting modules (or integrates smoothly with your
separate EHR/EMR module) to keep patient data, charts, appointments and billing information together in a
single digital file. Digital storage capability saves space for a neater, more welcoming office — and less
harried employees. Additionally, digital information is more secure than paper files.
5. Day-to-Day Operations
Automated process management streamlines and standardizes many administrative tasks, freeing medical
staff to focus on what they do best: patient care. As a result, staff members may see improvements that help
them find their jobs more fulfilling. A happy staff shows — when those providing care are happy and
healthy, patients enjoy a higher standard of value-based medical care.
Efficiency, accuracy and fewer errors directly benefit the facility’s bottom line. Patients who receive quality
care from a professional and focused medical team will remain with the practice and tell their friends.
What are Important Patient Management System Features?
1. Medical Records
- The ability to track, store and access patients’ electronic medical records is vital to any healthcare provider.
Some patient tracking software offers its own charting module.
- charting features should record, update and archive crucial patient data within the system for access at
future encounters. It produces flow sheets for each patient which list immunizations, previous diagnoses,
surgeries, test results, chronic issues and other important data.
2. Scheduling
- One of the most valuable features is scheduling. The days of calling and making appointments via telephone
are on their way out, and that’s good news for those looking to implement practice management.
- With a patient scheduling module, patients can book their own appointments online with 24/7 access to
a patient portal. They can also cancel and reschedule appointments in the system — which means desk staff
doesn’t have to.
Once an appointment has been scheduled, system can send automated appointment reminders via email,
text or phone call, reducing the likelihood that patients will forget appointments.
- It may also record appointment histories, including no-shows.
- The system can even send out automated alerts when routine preventive care appointments are due. For
example, my vision prescription is close to expiring, and I got an automated email from my doctor letting me
know it was time to come in and get it renewed. It’s convenient for the patients and staff and helps promote
the number one thing people can do to stay healthy: get consistent preventive care.
3. Patient Encounter
- tracks and manages the patient encounter before they even walk in the door.
- Patient check-in software modules generate electronic intake forms for them to fill out prior to their visit.
This helps streamline a patient’s initial clinic or hospital visit and reduces wait times otherwise spent filling
out forms in person. Once patients arrive, they can check in electronically, and their wait times are tracked
by the system to gather metrics for performance analysis.
Patient management solutions monitor exam room availability, as well as track the progress of each exam.
- Once an appointment is over, patient management system automates the checkout process, including co
pay collection and patient follow-up appointment scheduling.
4. Inpatient Encounters
- Patient information management systems can also be utilized to manage patients in hospitals.
- MPMs manage admissions and track patient wait times to get as many patients in contact with care
providers as possible. Once patients are admitted, patient care management system lets users track patient
locations, schedule surgeries and coordinate emergency response.
- On the logistical side of practice management features, users can schedule bed occupancy and maintenance
to prevent overcrowding or unsanitary conditions. -- MPM helps manage medication doses to ensure
patients receive the right amount of the right medications. Once patients are well enough to go home,
practice management or practice management systems let users plan and execute discharges. All this
information is charted and graphed for easy absorption by staff.
5. Medical Billing
-Hospital patient management systems offer billing modules that reduce the stress of the revenue cycle
management process.
- This feature manages patient accounts to keep a record of all past and present payment information and
diagnoses. When a patient checks in, medical billing modules verify insurance eligibility to make sure
everyone is on the same page about copays and deductibles.
- After encounters, medications, surgeries or other services, MPM automates the billing process to
standardize every bill and payment collected. When payments are due, the system issues automated
payment reminders and patients can pay online through the online patient management system.
During the billing process, it can be difficult to keep track of everything that needs to be done. Medical billing
tracks insurance claim status and coordinates billing with insurance providers to ensure claims are
processedquickly and accurately. When there is an issue, MPMs offer a claim denial manager to assist in the
process of arguing a denied claim.
Security and Facility Requirements
Part of being a healthcare provider is ensuring your patients’ data is secure. All medical
practice and patient information systems should be HIPAA compliant in order to meet federal
security standards. ICD-10 code implementation is also crucial to make sure diagnoses input
into your system can be read and understood universally by other providers.
Many MPMs offer an internal direct messaging system where patients can directly send
messages to their doctors. While this system is incredibly convenient and saves both patients
and doctors time, it transmits sensitive information. It’s vital to make sure there is ample
security for your system, and this includes any software it integrates with.
