Case Study - US Military Treatment Facilities

Overview

The MTF (military treatment facilities) is a network of 121 medical centers within the DHA, the US Defense Health Agency.  The facilities comprise a diverse workforce of over 140,000 individuals, including both civilian and military personnel. Emphasizing the importance of combat support, the MTF focuses on establishing advanced and resilient Health Delivery Systems. Their key areas of focus encompass pharmacy and public health services, medical education and training, and health information technology. 

The Challenge

The military treatment facility were already working with Q-nomy partner ACF and had implemented Q-Flow across many of their medical facilities. However, due to the decentralized administration and fragmented data system of their existing solution, they desired to centralize and consolidate their operations at an enterprise level.

Key stakeholders within the military treatment facility aimed to standardize different departments such as pharmacies, medical clinics, and medical services. Further, they were looking for:

• Enterprise cost and resource reduction. 
• Integration with existing systems like Appointment Check-in, Pharmacy Automation, and Walk-in Wait Times. 
• Meeting and surpassing the functionality of their current legacy solution without any disruption in clinical operations during the transition process. 

The Solution

The following Q-Flow software tools were used by the MTF:

• Check-In Kiosks: Upon arrival, patients check themselves in using the interactive kiosk, identifying themselves, the reason for their visit, and additional demographics. Once this step is completed, the kiosk generates a printed ticket or sends an SMS notification to the patient.  
• Administration Level Reporting: The military treatment facility possesses the capability to monitor wait times and patient workflow throughout the region. Leaders at the facility are granted access to comprehensive reports that highlight details regarding the patient experience. This standardized approach facilitates efficient monitoring and analysis of patient wait times and clinical workflows.  
• Documentation Printing: Once the patient has successfully completed the check-in process, a customized form tailored to their specific medical requirements will be generated upon request. This form will be promptly transmitted to the reception area, ensuring seamless communication. The generation of the form can be automated based on various factors such as check-in status, incoming calls, or patient transfers. To ensure precise tracking, timestamps are implemented throughout the entire process, capturing each step accurately. Once the form is completed, patients will be directed to a designated waiting area for further assistance. 
• Streamlined Deployments: Costs were lowered by reducing on-site services and moving to a remote configuration, deployment, and training model. Enterprise standards and workflow templates were created and deployed to reduce time and costs.  
• Clinical Workflow Standardization: The standardization of the patient interface encompasses various aspects, including lobby signage, kiosk design, staff interactions, and clinical workflow processes. By implementing consistent and uniform practices across these areas, the military treatment facility ensures a streamlined and cohesive experience for both patients and staff members.  
• Q-Flow Reports and Insights: Comprehensive reports and patient workflow-specific data points offer an in-depth analysis of virtual queues, patient wait times, staffing requirements, and efficiency. These reports are generated at various levels, including site level, regional level, and enterprise level. By leveraging this data-driven approach, the military treatment facility can make informed decisions regarding resource allocation and operational optimization across all facilities. 
   

The Results

Our partner's team of workflow analysts partnered with the federal healthcare provider to implement a streamlined enterprise-wide clinical workflow solution on the Q-Flow platform. The solution was successfully updated and migrated to the newly consolidated environment with minimal downtime for clinical services. Further, this solution would achieve the following goals:  

• Reduce total costs for software licensing by consolidating all sites to a single enterprise license.  
• Lower the costs for deploying Q-Flow to new sites. Costs were lowered by reducing on-site services and moving to a remote configuration, deployment, and training model. 
• Drive operational efficiencies through standardization across departments. 
• Centralized administration and enterprise-wide reporting built on common data sets. 

The military treatment facility experienced several positive outcomes as a result of implementing Q-Flow, which include: 

• Significantly reducing the number of on-premise servers from over 200 to just four consolidated instances across the United States, Pacific region, and Europe. 
• Decreased cost and resource reductions.  
• Establishing standardization and centralization of operations. 
• Meeting the critical application's uptime and availability requirements. 
• Enhancing staff experience with a user-friendly standardized interface and clinical workflows to improve staff efficiency.