Empowering physicians with a digital workflow and AI-based clinical documentation programmes at Halifax Health
Abstract
For more than 90 years, Halifax Health has offered complete healthcare and diagnostic treatment services for its local communities and ranks consistently among the top 5 per cent of all US-based hospitals for clinical outcomes. Like many healthcare organisations, Halifax Health has continued working through the transition from paper patient charts to digitally documenting patient care — a transition that has required changes to workflows and additional administrative burdens on care teams. This paper describes how Halifax Health has implemented a reimagined digital workflow with AI-based clinical documentation programmes for providers and clinical documentation teams alike. With the use of these new technologies, Halifax Health has alleviated the many administrative burdens of physicians; empowered them with clinical intelligence at the point of care; improved a range of clinical documentation metrics, including case coverage, query responses and case mix index (CMI); and enabled the electronic health record (EHR) to become what it was always meant to be: a vehicle to facilitate and empower physicians in creating better patient outcomes.
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Author's Biography
Ginny Kwong is Vice President and Chief Medical Information Officer at Halifax Health, where she works closely with administrative and clinical leadership on strategic planning, policy development and clinical information system implementation throughout the health system. She strategically leads the organisation in design and integration of best practice clinical information technology to leverage the delivery of safe, efficient, quality patient care. Dr Kwong provides leadership in championing meaningful clinical decision support and in optimising evidenced-based practice to achieve quality patient care and outcomes at Halifax Health. She completed her undergraduate studies at Washington University and medical school at the University of Mississippi Medical Center and the Family Medicine Residency programme at Halifax Health, where she was chief resident. In addition, Dr Kwong is a recipient of the prestigious American Academy of Family Physicians (AAFP) Award for Excellence in Graduate Medical Education, which recognises physicians for leadership, civic involvement, exemplary patient care and aptitude for family medicine.
Tom Stafford is Vice President and Chief Information Officer at Halifax Health, where he is responsible for the overall leadership of every IT initiative at the organisation. A veteran of the U.S. Navy, Stafford holds a Bachelor’s degree in aerospace engineering from Embry Riddle Aeronautical University and a Master’s degree in mechanical engineering from the University of Central Florida. He is also a certified project management professional with more than 20 years of experience managing technically complex projects. He has created a culture that has put Halifax Health on Computerworld Magazine’s Best Places to Work in IT for five years in a row. In addition, Stafford won a 2017 Computerworld Premier 100 Award for his leadership and innovative approaches. Becker’s Healthcare named him one of the top 105 chief information officers (CIOs) to watch in 2018 and 2019.
Citation
Kwong, Ginny and Stafford, Tom (2020, June 1). Empowering physicians with a digital workflow and AI-based clinical documentation programmes at Halifax Health. In the Management in Healthcare: A Peer-Reviewed Journal, Volume 4, Issue 4. https://doi.org/10.69554/WHNI3291.
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