Jeff Hobson, Regional Sales Director for Shareable Ink, agreed to provide some information regarding their product.
Jeff, there are many smaller hospitals, ASCs and Office anesthesia practices attempting to transition to an automated anesthesia record, however we are put off by the cost and the complex nature of the typical Anesthesia Information System. It appears your product attempts to offer a bridge to an electronic record. Would you provide an overview of what Shareable Ink offers ?
Yes, we have had a lot of interest and success in working with smaller hospitals, ASC’s and office-based practices digitizing their anesthesia documentation (including pre-op, post-op, quality-related documentation). In fact, we also work with larger hospitals, since it turns out that a large number of them also use paper-based anesthesia records for many of the same reasons that smaller hospitals do (cost, resistance from anesthesiologists, return on investment which is largely related to charge capture and accrues to the anesthesia group, not the hospital buyer). Overall, 93% of hospitals still use paper documentation.
Could you describe this process in greater detail and share your company’s vision for this product.
Click here for a pdf overview of the Shareable Ink Anesthesia Record. Briefly, it enables easy, fast data capture of all anesthesia-related documentation in a way that doesn’t change workflow for the providers or involve a large IT project for the hospital. Simultaneously, the information captured by hand is converted to electronic, actionable data. For example, the built-in Shareable Ink Analytics module provides drill-down analysis of quality-, clinical-, and efficiency-related metrics across regions, providers, and timeframes.
In addition, billing-related data is sent to the group’s billing system/vendor as soon as the case is complete and the form in its entirety as well as data elements from it are sent to the hospital’s core systems. Real-time alerts for missing or erroneous data on the forms ensure that the vast majority of records are filled out completely the same day, saving time from the typical feedback loop from billing or quality management staff back to the provider when, e.g. an end time or signature is missing on the form.
Our customer surveys have shown that the average form completeness rate at first pass is 78%. This quickly goes to 99% as the provider is alerted as soon as he/she docks the digital pen, giving him/her the opportunity to correct the missing item right then.
What other features does your product offer ?
The unobtrusive nature of the system with regards to hospital administration/IT combined with the ease of use and value of the reports and feedback
generated for the anesthesia providers is the reason why some of the largest anesthesia groups in the country are deploying Shareable Ink across all of the hospitals with which they contract.
We can discuss the mechanics of the system and flow of data between it and external/hospital systems further, but it’s probably easier to do via phone than in an email message.
What more can we expect from Shareable Ink as your product matures ?
In terms of current and future features, the system currently includes detailed analytics, as described above and in the attached document. These really give groups and hospitals insight into many areas of their operations that they had never had before in the traditional paper world. Future features may include integration (via the Shareable Ink web portal) to monitors for electronic vitals capture, and alternative data input tools, such as tablets. The current pen/paper capture method, however, works well because it requires little to no support from hospital IT and allows the system to be plugged into existing workflows very easily. At a time when most hospital IT departments are completely focused on “Meaningful Use” compliance (implementing large CPOE projects), this approach requires very little of their time and does not derail any of their existing projects and strategies.
Describe your market, whom do you see as your customers ?
The market for Shareable Ink Anesthesia Record is anesthesia groups (particularly medium to large-sized groups and growing groups) who have a need to benchmark performance across large groups of geographically dispersed providers, cut down on their A/R cycle, and provide statistics on their quality of care to current and prospective hospital clients. We also market directly to hospitals, many of whom choose Shareable Ink as a solution to support their goals of becoming paperless (since paper can be shredded as soon as the data is captured from it) but without the huge expense and time commitment required by a typical AIMS purchase and implementation.
Can you provide some idea of what your system might cost ?
The solution is a SaaS model (software as a service) requiring very little hardware and is sold on an annual subscription basis without a large, upfront software purchase. It is typically priced less than even the annual maintenance fees of an AIMS.
Jeff Hobson • Regional Sales Director Shareable Ink
T: 877-572-7423 x820 M: 805-665-8511 jhobson@shareableink.com
