The Customer

A large hospital group based in the U.S.A, with over 20 locations all over the country.

The Challenge

Operation documentation needs to be very precise and detailed. There are a number of laws that make misreporting of any of the procedures performed in an operation a criminal offence. However, the current procedures for looking up the proper procedure codes (CPT ID) is extremely laborious, and it is usually not possible to do this real-time while an operation is being performed in an operation theatre. The objective was to come up with a solution to automate the process of documenting an operation to the maximum extent possible.

The Solution

Radical problems require radical solutions. Our system analysts actually sat through a number of operations to understand the exact process by which an operation in progress was documented by the team. After considering a number of alternatives, the analysts finally decided on a handheld device that could be used by the anesthesiologist while the operation was in progress. This decision was taken after considering other alternatives like a touch-screen driven desktop application, for reasons of usability and cost.

The system was organized with a single, central repository for the entire GasWizard system. Any number of hospitals, groups, and individual users could be added to this system hierarchy. The secure replication of the relevant data across the entire system was controlled by the Analytica Mobile Data Transport Layer.

The central server system was designed by Analytica to be compliant with the highest standards of security for the Healthcare industry. Interoperability with the rest of the HSS system - the billing, scheduling, and the inventory system - was achieved using HL7 protocols. The entire deployment was carried out in 15 days, and tested to work with better than 99.99% reliability.

The system was rolled out to over 4 different locations, with 27 groups and over 400 mobile users, in less than 3 months after going live. The system is expected to be deployed in more than 30 different locations within the next year.

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