Eastern Maine Medical Center to implement real-time patient flow management system

Oct 9 2009

Eastern Maine Medical Center's (EMMC) newly renovated 32,000 square foot Imaging Center is the high-tech host to an array of outpatient services, including CT scans, MRIs, Digital Mammography, Diagnostic Cardiology, Radiography and Ultrasound. Centralizing these medical services allowed EMMC to not only expand their offerings, but also alleviate parking congestion, long patient wait times and rescheduling.

With an already high patient volume (there was a 26.3% increase between 2006 and 2007) and walk-in patients already representing over 50% of all services, it is important that EMMC address patient flow in a timely and efficient manner. To help do so, they chose to implement Versus Technology, Inc.'s Real-time Locating System (RTLS). This decision is a continuation of EMMC's commitment to use technology to advance patient safety and high quality care -- a commitment that earned EMMC the Nicholas E. Davies Organizational Award of Excellence in 2008.

The Versus solution will allow EMMC to capture time parameters related to the patient visit, including wait time and time to complete a particular imaging service. These parameters are obtained automatically and allow Imaging Center staff to:

• Make real-time comparisons to benchmarked goals (modality trending),
• Perform more accurate scheduling based on actual time to complete certain procedures,
• Better inform patients as to expected wait and procedure times, and
• Easily analyze patient throughput.

As EMMC Imaging Center performs both scheduled and walk-in services, they will gain additional efficiency from Versus' real-time bed management capabilities. Versus automatically identifies room status as available, in-use, reserved, in-process (being cleaned) or unavailable based on patient locations and integration with the Imaging Center's registration system to identify the service type.

"Eastern Maine Medical Center had already selected Versus to automate patient flow at their CancerCare of Maine clinic," says Paul Timmerman, VP of Sales and Marketing, "so when they contacted us in June about the Imaging Center, they already had a basic understanding of our capabilities. Since the CCoM won't open until the end of the year, it was a vote of confidence in Versus and Versus' experience managing multiple projects, including those with a more aggressive timeframe."

The new EMMC Imaging Center opened on September 1st and is already averaging 200 patients per day. Staff are already commenting on the improvements the Versus automation brings to their larger clinic. Canfield Systems, Inc. of Scarborough, ME installed the Versus Sensory Network and was instrumental in the planning process. "It is always a pleasure to work with the staff at Eastern Maine Medical Center," says Scott Whitaker, VP of Canfield Systems, Inc. "The General and Electrical Contractors were also an instrumental component in the successful completion of this project. We look forward to watching the Imaging Center benefit from this technology."