Hand Surgery Specialists, located in Cincinnati Ohio, is a group
of physicians specializing in hand, wrist, elbow, shoulder and microvascular
surgery.
The practice was struggling with time-consuming and inaccurate methods
of scheduling doctors for surgery. There was one dedicated resource, the
surgery scheduler, responsible for scheduling all surgical procedures
for six physicians. To determine availability, the surgery scheduler called
the physicians assistant to confirm availability. The assistant then schedules
the activity for the physician and the scheduler enters this on the master
schedule. The method of scheduling was unsatisfactory as cancellations
were not communicated and physicians were losing billable time.
There was a need to improve office efficiency, implement a physician scheduling protocol, enhance intraoffice communication and gain Internet access.
Dr. Thomas Kiefhaber contacted Don Neumann with i-systems corporation.
The two talked of a solution that would allow for centralized scheduling
systems, email connectivity for each desktop and the ability for each
doctor to keep appointments in a palm pilot.
A completely integrated solution based on Microsoft Windows NT Small Business Server was implemented. The entire installation occurred in six weeks with no downtime. The centralized scheduling process has saved the practice hours of time that was used to retype a paper schedule and playing phone tag. Customer Service is also improved as the surgery scheduler can give accurate appointments to patients as they call in. Each doctor can communicate immediately via the internet to colleagues without the hassles of modems and busy signals. The doctors can view their schedules at a glance by checking their palm pilot, which they carry in their coat pocket.
