6 Reasons Why HMIS Should Be the Next Process Improvisation Measure at Your Hospital

The Benefits of a Hospital Management Information System.

It is important to evaluate and understand the benefits of Hospital Management Information System (HMIS) thoroughly and pit them against the needs of your hospital when trying to figure out why you need an HMIS implemented in your hospital.

Here we list out some of the unique benefits of HMIS and how they impact hospital processes. Pit them against your needs and see if they fit:

1. Easy Access To Patient Data

A well-implemented HMIS means readily available patient data to the care providers. It is only a matter of few clicks and all the requisite information about a patient, from various departments in the hospital, can be available on the screen. If the treating doctor needs to re-check the test reports of a patient, he need not go looking for the IPD file in the patient floor; logging into the HMIS will give him instant access to those reports and timely treatment decisions ensue. If the HMIS is implemented, the doctor will be able to access reports remotely improving productivity.

2. Cost Effective

HMIS cuts out a lot of manual work that are performed in hospitals especially documentation and record keeping. The level of human intervention is really low with a well-implemented HMIS. It helps in cutting down manpower costs because a lot of work gets automated and does not require manual intervention to store or analyze the information. HMIS also saves much on storage and the related costs. A well-implemented HMIS practically makes a hospital paper free. (Only the legally mandatory documents need to be maintained on paper to comply with the rules.)

3. Plugs Revenue Leakage

Because processes on HMIS are automated and a lot of tasks are assigned to the software to be performed with utmost accuracy, with minimum human intervention, the scope of error is reduced dramatically. For instance, while billing an IDP patient for consumables used, with HIS the bill can hardly go wrong because the consumables used are immediately entered into the HMIS by the nurse under the patient’s ID. Per unit rate of the consumable is already saved in the software as part of standard operating procedure of automation; merely selecting the consumable name and the quantity will enable the software to calculate the amount due accurately.

4. Increased Data Security & Retrieve-ability

Record keeping in hospitals is a mandatory bane with two challenges: keeping the data safe with only authorized personnel getting access to it and retrieving it within the minimum time possible. Add to these the perennial problems like space shortage, protection from natural elements and protection from pest damage etc.

When HMIS is implemented in a hospital, all the data is stored on the server or Cloud. Since HMIS works on logins, data security is not an issue as long as the personnel keep their passwords secret and safe. Logins ensure that only when logged in from the login, which has access rights, will anyone be able to access the data, ensuring data safety. Retrieve-ability of data stored on a server or Cloud is only a matter of few clicks.

5. Improved Operational Effectiveness

Improved access to patient data and improved work efficiency means better and faster clinical decisions. In this age of evidence based medicine, the faster the clinician gets the diagnostic reports and the quicker his orders are implemented the faster is the patient’s recovery and the better it is on the patient care index. With automation, all departments in the hospitals are inter-connected and faster information access further improves the quality of patient care and the resultant bed turnover in the hospital.

6. Accountability

HMIS comes with logins. Logins are like individual locks the key of which is alpha numeric with special characters. Every employee who needs to work on HMIS is given an individual login with access controls. Every task happens through logins, only. HMIS gives the kind of accountability that manual processes never manage to give. With an audit trail, HMIS allows every task to be traced to the employee who performed it.

To know more about the benefits of HMIS automation, click here.