FollowUpPro
According to the American Cancer Society, there will be an estimated 1.8 million new cancer cases diagnosed in 2020 in the United States. For Cancer Registrars, this means there is a lot of data to abstract in very little time.
Being a Cancer Registry Manager at a for-profit network of comprehensive cancer care and research centers and managing a team of 20 is no small task. The customer has seen significant challenges with time and resources over the years. Their oldest hospital follows over 15,000 patients dating back to almost 40 years ago. While the number of patients to follow at the other locations is not as large, each of the cancer registry departments was operating independently.
The Results:
Inconsistent Patient Follow-up ProcessesPreviously, the strategy for following up with patients was different across all locations. This created inconsistencies and blocked any chances of developing a streamlined process across each. There was also a cancer registrar vacancy at one location, which led to a decrease in follow up as records were not being attended. There was an urgent need to organize and streamline the process for patient follow-up across all hospitals.
Another challenge this customer faced is that they’re known in the industry as a “destination hospital,” meaning most people travel to one of their locations in the United States, versus going to a community hospital to be treated.
“It’s a lot more complicated when you have patients that are traveling to you because you don’t know their community as well as your own. It’s difficult to know where they could have gone if we lose track of them. That’s where I feel like Redsson really helped us, with those people who were truly lost, because we didn’t know where to look next,” explains the Cancer Registry Manager.
Referrals are quite common in the healthcare industry, as many look for a company they can trust. When the head of the cancer registry department heard about Redsson through a colleague, they immediately reached out.
Soon after a contract was put in place through Redsson’s quick and easy process. To the cancer registry team, this made for a welcomed change compared to the drawn-out processes most hospitals have in place due to administration and legal regulations.
The team exported their lists of lost patients from across all locations and uploaded them into Redsson’s FollowUpPro software. The file is received by Redsson and the search begins to update addresses, date last seen, or deceased date. Once complete the updated file is returned and easily imported directly back into the cancer registry software.
The head of the department admits, “I wasn’t sure how it was going to work.” But the proof was in the results. Redsson was able to boost patient follow-up record updates by 33%, taking each hospital to a 90% follow-up rate; 10% higher than the CoC follow-up standard. Even a single address update for a lost patient was a huge success because the staff was unable to find this information on their own.
The bump in patient follow-up made the Cancer Registry Manager and their team big fans of the product to begin with, but what really sold them was the customer support. “I do think it’s an important part of the purchasing process, and I want to make sure that I’m doing my due diligence when I’m spending money… making sure it’s worth our while,” they said. To them, being able to reach out and ask a question, knowing that someone is going to get back to them as soon as possible, is what distinguishes Redsson as not just a product, but a partner
If you have questions regarding the patient follow-up process please call us at 1.800.REDSSON (733.7766) or fill out the contact us form to speak directly with our healthcare services experts.
