Improving Hospital Operations through Better Printing Capabilities
“Electronic medical records (EMRs) have not reduced the number of printed documents in healthcare facilities,” says Brent A. Black, Director of Product Management, LRS. “Healthcare organizations often rely on the EMR system’s standard print capabilities, but these do not address the complexities and functional requirements of large organizations,” he adds.
LRS is a solution provider at the marcus evans National Healthcare CIO Summit Spring 2017, taking place in Pasadena, California, March 13-14.
What role does Output Management play in healthcare?
Hospital facilities need to print documents such as arm bands, blood orders, admittance documents, and prescription labels. When these fail to print, patient care suffers and productiv-ity slows.
Healthcare organizations often rely on the EMR system’s standard print capabilities, but a better alternative would be an output management system, like VPSX®, that captures documents from applications and delivers them reliably to printers. If a document fails to print when and where it is expected, IT support staff can quickly fix the problem.
Many leading healthcare providers have significantly improved their operations and bottom line with VPSX.
How does VPSX interact with EMR systems?
LRS worked with leading EMR vendors to integrate VPSX as a logical extension of their systems. For example, VPSX leverages metadata from the EMR system to provide a more efficient print solution. Redundant logical printer definitions are not necessary to specify paper orientation or select paper stock from an alternative tray. These multiple logical printer definitions create complexity and cause delays for adding new devices. Using VPSX, support staff can easily add or change printers without impacting EMR applications.
What other healthcare “hot topics” does VPSX address?
We see a lot of interest in two areas. First, secure printing of sensitive information. Documents containing PHI must be carefully handled to ensure patient confidentiality. The longer such a document sits unattended at a printer, the greater your risk of costly penalties. VPSX supports “pull printing” to safeguard documents at the device. Queued documents are printed only when the user authenticates at the printer. This prevents unauthorized access of sensitive information and creates an audit trail for compliance purposes.
Organizations must also protect print data over the network. Unscrupulous users can obtain sensitive information by “sniffing” print data using tools that are freely available on the internet. VPSX addresses this security exposure by encrypting print data in motion.
Secondly, delivering patient care “on the go”. Healthcare professionals are mobile and need to access applications and print wherever they are. VPSX lets workers print from mobile devices and connects them to existing printers anywhere in the enterprise. No need to purchase new printers or special hardware features.
Many organizations are evaluating VDI to improve worker mobility, while increasing security, flexibility, and control of their Windows desktops. VDI lets users access their desktops anywhere, enabling applications to follow them as they perform their duties. However, printing is more complicated in a VDI environment, leading to user frustration and support calls. Users want their printer definitions to dynamically adjust when they logon to any terminal so they can conven-iently print nearby. With VPSX, IT administrators can easily associate users, printers, and terminals in an intelligent manner and ensure that workers can easily print to a nearby device. By making virtual desktop printing more like traditional work-station printing, users are more productive with fewer support issues.
About the National Healthcare CIO Summit Spring 2017
The National Healthcare CIO Summit is the premium forum bringing senior level healthcare IT executives and solution providers together. The Summit offers an intimate environment for a focused discussion of key new drivers shaping the healthcare industry. Taking place at The Langham Huntington, Pasadena, California, March 13-14, 2017, the Summit includes presentations on mastering M&A activity, delivering results for the digital patient, leveraging data and benchmarking for a better department and system.
www.nhciosummit.com
About LRS
Since 1982, Levi, Ray & Shoup, Inc. (LRS) has been providing software for secure, centralized management of critical healthcare documents. From secure pull print software to tamper-proof prescription printing and more, LRS healthcare solutions help you save money, meet your HIPAA compliance goals, and improve patient care.
LRS software works with all major EMR solutions to provide assured delivery of patient wristbands, prescriptions, billing statements, back office reports and more. Customers report a 99% decrease in unplanned printer downtime and a 5-year ROI of 492% with a payback time in under 10 months.
Please visit https://www.lrsoutputmanagement.com/solutions-industries/healthcare for more information about LRS solutions for healthcare.
About marcus evans Summits
marcus evans Summits are high level business forums for the world’s leading decision-makers to meet, learn and discuss strategies and solutions. Held at exclusive locations around the world, these events provide attendees with a unique opportunity to individually tailor their schedules of keynote presentations, case studies, roundtables and one-on-one business meetings.
For more information, please visit: www.marcusevans.com