At Van Buren County Hospital, Everyone Shows Up
Keosauqua, IA – One May morning, the staff of Van Buren County Hospital (VBCH) gathered for a day of learning. The occasion was a full-day session with Epic, VBCH’s electronic health record and the creator of MyChart. VBCH and Epic spent the day digging into the hospital’s use of technology—celebrating what’s working well and, more importantly, finding opportunities to better serve patients and staff alike.
Nurses, physicians, administrators, and executives filled the room. Even the facilities lead joined. That's how our community works: everyone shows up.
"In my twenty-year tenure at VBCH, the decision to adopt Epic through our University of Iowa Health Care host has proven to be the most beneficial and forward-thinking choice we have made," said Chris McEntee, Chief Information Officer at Van Buren County Hospital. "Our staff and our patients use these tools every day. Bringing in someone from Epic to sit down with us, elbow to elbow, and help us chart our course forward is the best way to ensure that we keep improving."
The session drew on real data from VBCH's Epic system, accessed through UI Health Care. These metrics represent many small factors that contribute to a patient’s, clinician’s, or staff member’s lived healthcare experience. To provide a more convenient scheduling experience for patients, you might evaluate online scheduling rates through MyChart. In the last quarter, online appointment scheduling for primary care increased by more than 100%. To make registration a simpler experience, you might look to patient self-registration in MyChart. In the last quarter, VBCH increased self-registration by 21%. All told, 63% of VBCH patients last quarter already had a MyChart account that would allow for these conveniences. Data like these are required for a better patient experience.
"Our goal at UI Health Care is to provide community hospitals with the technology, training, and collaboration they need to thrive, so more Iowans have access to high-quality care close to home,”,” said Josh Wilda, Chief Information Digital Officer at UI Health Care. “VBCH has been a loyal and valued part of our Community Connect program since we extended our Epic system to them in 2012. We look forward to our continued collaboration for many years to come.”
VBCH is looking forward to using new AI tools from Epic to further enhance the patient experience and the quality of care.
"The team at VBCH is doing remarkable work," said Dan Rottinger, rural health lead at Epic. "One of the best parts of my job is traveling the country to meet groups like VBCH, where everyone feels a personal stake in the experience that they provide to their community.”