St. Elizabeth Medical Center (SEMC) is a 201-bed inpatient facility in Utica, NY. This community general hospital provides a wide range of services to 300,000 residents in its primary market area in NewYork State. The hospital also sponsors a Medical Group,which provides healthcare services to the community in 13 offices across a 30-mile radius.

The Medical Group has more than 30 providers in fields such as family medicine, prenatal care and gynecology, internal medicine and pediatrics. The Medical Center also offers three educational programs, including a family medical residency program, a hospital-based college of nursing and a school of radiography. SEMC’s Emergency Department is of significant importance to the region because it is equipped to provide prompt, critical care, including vital cardiac services. Committed to excellence in healthcare and education, SEMC strives to practice compassion and respect for the dignity of all. With so many providers and patients, having streamlined procedures is vital to the operation of the organization.

When choosing a new medical transcription service, SEMC had several selection criteria in mind. “We have a unique situation with the systems we used and needed a company to accommodate those current systems.We wanted to keep our dictation system the way it was and make the change as seamless as possible for the providers,” said Elizabeth Kosakowski, RHIT,CCS,CTR, Director of Health Information and Coding Compliance at SEMC.

Acusis worked with SEMC to provide that seamless transition,with full implementation occurring within one month. “The pre-implementation set-up went very well, as did the implementation phase. Acusis representatives were on site consistently,” said Kosakowski. “Their technical people knew what they were talking about. During and after implementation, Acusis worked hard to resolve any issues, even going so far as meeting with a doctor who had some concerns. This shows their commitment to quality.”

Switching to Acusis solved three main problems with SEMC’s previous transcription service. Over time, Acusis improved the quality of the transcription documents, reducing the numerous errors and incomplete information that had plagued the old system. Acusis also improved the accessibility of documents. Acusis is web-based,which gives the SEMC staff immediate access for review and editing. “This is a great benefit to our providers,” said Kosakowski.

Another improvement that came as a result of implementing Acusis was in the turnaround time for transcription documents. “We found that the previous turnaround time with the old provider was up to a week for the Medical Group Sites. This was unacceptable,” said Robert C. Scholefield, Chief Operating Officer at SEMC. “Plus, there were a fair number of lost documents along the way for the Medical Group Sites.” With Acusis, that has all changed for the better. SEMC hasn’t had a lost file since switching to Acusis. Additionally, typical turnaround times now range from two to 24 hours, depending on the documents. Kosakowski called these times “right on target.”

Another added benefit of working with Acusis is having specific transcriptionists dedicated to each provider when requested. This means that the transcriptionists become familiar with their assigned providers’ styles, accents, and types of documents.

“Before Acusis, there were inconsistencies and guesswork in the transcripts,” said Scholefield. “Now that we have the voice files online,we can check the transcripts against what the doctor said and verify things very quickly. Overall, the improvement is great.We’re very happy with Acusis.”