Ambulatory Surgery Centers Need a Tailored CVIS Platform

Published in Cision, May 2022

Ambulatory Surgery Centers (ASC) are now performing more cardiac procedures, yet if they do not use a unified and specifically tailored Cardiovascular Information System, which allows advanced structured reporting, automated updates on cardiology guidelines and more, ASCs could miss out the opportunity to improve efficiency, enhance quality of care and increase clinical team’s satisfaction. MediReport CEO Dr. Serge Makowski explains how investing in a CVIS platform could level the playing field.

To handle increasing patient loads, cardiologists in these centers will need access to technology providing comprehensive data management throughout the entire care cycle. Dr Makowski says, “Moving certain cardiac procedures to an ASC provides many benefits. The patient receives the convenience and affordability of ambulatory care. The physicians benefit from more convenient scheduling and more autonomy. And the insurance companies benefit as ASCs offer the same procedures as hospitals but at a rate that is 35 to 50 percent less costly.”

Given this increase in cardiac procedures at ASCs, it follows that these centers would enormously benefit from a unified, structured-reporting CVIS platform that in addition to having the same functionalities as those in major medical centers are tailored-made for the needs and capabilities of the ambulatory center. ASCs currently have lighter patient loads and provide less medically complex procedures compared to hospitals. However, they also usually have less staff and a lighter information technology (IT) infrastructure. And since ASCs aren’t reimbursed at the same rate as larger facilities, it’s important to find technology solutions that don’t hurt the bottom line.

MediReport, a software company that understands the specificities of ASC settings, already provides a CVIS solution called CardioReport Ambulatory. Specifically tailored for ASC needs and requirements, the cloud-based system intelligently guides the clinician on the mandatory and important procedural data abiding by the latest clinical guidelines and generates near real-time reports which are automatically incorporated into the facility’s electronic medical record (EMR).

Based on 25-plus years of medical expertise, the system enables doctors to leverage extensive built-in clinical depth with functionalities such as structured reporting (with templates customized to the physician’s and practice’s specific workflows), inventory management, score calculation (SCAI, SYNTAX), analytics dashboards and post discharge follow ups. The same data may be repurposed repeatedly for clinical research or registry participation, without the need for repeated manual data entry. The end result is greater physician satisfaction as it dramatically improves not only their experience of performing and reporting on procedures, but it completely unifies their diagnostic reporting for accuracy.
Functionalities include, but are not limited to:

• Automated scoring calculation (Syntax, STS, SCAI, and more).
• Automated generation of structured reporting featuring customizable templates in 15 different languages.
• Customizable research protocols and structured databases.
• Dynamic integration of the latest clinical guidelines.
• Supply management including device traceability, activity monitoring, consumption, and forecasting future needs.
• Scheduling and appointment setting.
• Pre-admission patient screening and post-procedure monitoring.
• Data analytics and registry participation.

“It was paramount for us to adapt our product and related services to efficiently deliver the CVIS that ASCs value most. At MediReport we consider our customers as our partners, and we work with each of them to support their initiatives and offer customization per site. We bolster customer success by ensuring smooth implementation, easy clinical adoption, and expert technical support. We have built teams of clinical specialists, account managers and IT experts to support the user every step of the way. As we know price pressure is important on ASCs due to lower reimbursement, we have tailored our price point to meet their financial constraints based on patient volume and size of the facility. However, this is critical for us that lower cost does not imply lower quality or technology,”
Dr. Makowski says.

To find out more, check out the article in Cision.

MAY 5, 2022