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Data management software can eliminate charting errors
In part four of a series from the OSN Technology and Equipment Workshop featured at Hawaiian Eye 2010, Ben Foroodian, national networking sales manager for Carl Zeiss Meditec, presented Forum, a multidimensional data management software system for eye care professionals.
Centralizing data
Forum Archive, the main suite solution, digitally integrates data generated from ophthalmic instruments into one centralized location, allowing physicians to access data, images and reports on- and off-site. Forum Viewer, a browser-based application, can be used in conjunction with Forum Archive to view and compare diagnostic data.
“You want the ability to pull in all the data, all the images, all the reports that are generated on your instruments into a location where you can easily access them in your exam lanes remotely from wherever you are,” Mr. Foroodian said. “We have designed the system around very clean, very easy-to-read, very approachable Web technologies that let you customize the look and feel of the program.”
Forum is also built on the standards of Digital Imaging and Communication in Medicine (DICOM), which offers “true bidirectional communication” between the instruments and the image management tool, Mr. Foroodian said.
“You can have a central location to schedule all your patients and one entry point for all your data. This includes patient demographic information through to instrument data and back again,” he said. “So, you always have that one-to-one relationship. You should never have charting errors.”
The absence of such errors can lead to better patient relationships, he added, as physicians spend less time going through charts and more time improving patient education.
Electronic workflow system
The Forum OR Manager extends the electronic workflow system into the operating room. Patient data, operating room schedules and diagnostic data are immediately accessible to the physician. Surgery documentation, including video, can then be relayed automatically into a patient’s electronic medical record — a system that will soon become a necessity to all medical practices, Mr. Foroodian said.
“Our health care system is really ramping up to support the structure necessary for physicians to change their whole workflow to electronic medical records. So naturally, physicians need to start moving in that direction and start looking at EMRs,” he said.
According to Mr. Foroodian, about 17% of physicians currently use EMRs. However, certain mandates will require that number to increase to 90% by 2015, at which time physicians may be fined if they do not equip their practices with EMRs, he said.
For practices that already have EMRs in place, the Forum EMR Gateway can create a seamless link between the instruments and the existing EMR system. The interface enables the convenient transfer of diagnostic images and reports from instruments to the EMR, as well as the transfer of patient demographic data from the EMR system to the instrument, he said.
Going green, saving money
In addition to providing convenient data management with fewer mistakes, the Forum data management system is environmentally friendly and cost-effective because it reduces the need for exam printouts. A yearlong study conducted for Carl Zeiss determined that the total cost of paper, ink, storage and technicians was around $19,000 per quarter — money that physicians could be saving by upgrading to an electronic system, Mr. Foroodian said.
The Forum system, which is approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, is compatible with both PCs and Macs. – by Courtney Preston
- Ben Foroodian can be reached at Carl Zeiss Meditec, 5160 Hacienda Drive, Dublin, CA 94568; 925-557-4251; e-mail: b.foroodian@meditec.zeiss.com.