2. Going mobile. Back in 2005, Craig Horton, MD, joined the Meadows Regional Medical Center Team in Vidalia, Ga. as vice president of medical affairs. Shortly after assuming this role, the former pediatrician was charged with “stepping the hospital up to the next level.”

“Our CEO is very technologically inclined,” he said. “In April 2005, I began searching the Web for programs to make life easier.” When working as a pediatrician, Horton used a variety of programs that saved time and paper. “Not to mention, people in the office who were doing the billing didn’t have to contend with my handwriting,” he said. “So, I was looking for something that would be a hospital-wide system and could do something similar.”

Horton eventually came across a Web ad for PatientKeeper, a physician healthcare information system. Although the process of implementing new technology was delayed for a year or so, Horton pushed for a system and soon, the organization had pared down potential vendors to two. “There was a competing company that had a product that could meet our needs,” he said. “We had both them and PatientKeeper come in and do a demo, and the other company didn’t have it all together. So in August 2008, we finally decided to go live with PatientKeeper Mobile Clinical Results.”

Horton said the hospital was looking for technology that doctors and office personnel could carry around and use to access patient information. “The physician portal was a huge part of it as well, and after talking with people from PatientKeeper, we decided to do both at the same time.” Back in 2008, the organization decided to go with the two most popular smartphones: Palm and Windows Mobile. “That was fine back then because those were the top dogs as far as smartphones,” said Horton. “Unfortunately, that was the same time iPhones and others were becoming popular.”

Meadows Regional continued using the PatientKeeper Mobile Clinical Results on Palm and Windows Mobile from 2008 until about two months ago. “In August 2011, three years after we went live, we finally upgraded to the version of PatientKeeper that allows access with all the smartphones, and that was something I’ve been pushing for,” said Horton. “I’ve had doctors come up to me once or twice a week saying how the program saves them time because they don’t have to call nurses to get results; the results come up right on their phone.”

The hospital went from about six doctors with access to clinical results on their phone to about 30 -- a significant increase considering the size of the organization. “The reception has been outstanding,” said Horton. “The doctors are all happy with it. We had little issues, but they’re all fixed immediately.” Not to mention, Horton said the program is user friendly and required all of 15 minutes for training.

Looking back, Horton said one of the organization’s biggest drawbacks was not being able to access the program on all types of smartphones. “The usage would have been outstanding back in 2008 if we had done that,” he said. “For example, we audited the usage in January 2009, and there were 63 usages. In September 2011, we had more than 1,000.”

With the onslaught of mobile technology, Horton has a few words of advice for those considering apps similar to Mobile Clinical Results. “The main thing I would say is to do a face-to-face demo with whatever program you’re going to use,” he said. “That made a difference for us. The first program we were going to use had a good name, and we would have naturally leaned toward them, until they came in and did their demo. We compared them to PatientKeeper, and they knew their stuff.” Horton also suggests networking with other organizations to get a taste of what they’re using. “Get your references and do your due diligence,” he said. “Make sure people are happy with what they’re using.” 

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