Integrating healthcare systems with MazikCare: The sum is greater than the parts
Survival in the Affordable Care Act era requires unprecedented transparency of processes and costs. Electronic health records (EHR) and enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems have helped meet these needs, but there’s much room for improvement. And it often starts with integration.
Lack of integration, especially with legacy systems, is a problem challenging practically every healthcare organization. The systems employed by a hospital-affiliated clinic or doctor may differ from the systems used in the hospital’s Urgent Care facility. Data is siloed. Managers are left with an incomplete visibility of records, inventories, and processes. Employees struggle with different user interfaces and rigid processes.
To help address this challenge, Microsoft Dynamics has been working with partners to develop a more integrated approach—and not just across ERP and EHR systems but across all systems covering the full spectrum of patient care and financial and resource management.
A great example is the MazikCare solution powered by Microsoft Dynamics. This multifunctional system integrates financials, analytics, supply chain, and facilities management as well as patient relationship management. This integrated approach provides a more complete view, enabling administrators to make truly strategic decisions based on rich reporting and up-to-the-minute data.
The MazikCare solution powered by Microsoft Dynamics integrates multiple healthcare systems.
The possibilities are intriguing. For example, with integrated ERP, when a surgery is scheduled, buyers can purchase the tools, medications, anesthetics, and other materials needed. According to Pat Becker, Chief Strategy Officer of Mazik Global, “Today most hospitals do not have full knowledge of where all their supplies are, and they over-order supplies so they are prepared ‘just in case.’ By knowing what supplies are in every nook and cranny, the materials manager can rationalize purchases based on real-time usage information, reducing inventory across the systems and moving toward ‘just-in-time’ inventory management.” Costly waste is no longer part of the paradigm.
The billing and claims management system streamlines revenue cycle management requirements. The system correctly codes actions and notes taken by the physician, generates claims instantly, and automatically double-checks for accuracy. The system streamlines the billing process, tracks payer contract information, and transmits claims to Medicare and other clearinghouses. Both one-time and recurring claims are seamlessly created and accurately submitted.
Combining CRM functionality means all patient information can be centrally stored and accessed, making it far easier to avoid problems like drug interactions and lost lab results. An integrated CRM system also helps with customer leakage. If a patient comes to an affiliated clinic for an initial evaluation but either doesn’t proceed with the recommended intervention or chooses to do so at an unrelated hospital, that’s a loss. But with an agile system, a hospital can closely track that patient, following up as needed, passing along the appropriate information to the necessary departments. By being proactive and helping the patient move quickly through the system, the hospital has a better chance of retaining their business and delivering efficient care.
All of this functionality is wrapped in a unified user interface—a dramatic improvement over multiple user experiences across different systems. Training employees to use MazikCare is easy because it employs the same user interface as other Microsoft applications, making implementation much quicker so positive benefits can be achieved sooner. The UI extends to both desktop and mobile with a physician-designed, tablet-based charting system that enhances the doctor-patient relationship with comprehensive patient information on a single screen.
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