The Sisters of Mercy Health System Signs Agreement with DST to Implement AWD®
Hospital system to increase profitability, productivity with imaging and workflow
September 27, 2002
KANSAS CITY, MO. (September 27, 2002) - The Sisters of Mercy Health System (Mercy) announced today that it has signed an agreement with DST Technologies, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of DST Systems, Inc., to implement the Automated Work Distributor™ (AWD®) in its St. Louis-based service unit, St. John's Mercy Health Care.
AWD business process management, imaging, workflow, and customer management solutions are designed to reduce operating costs and increase productivity. With experience providing AWD to the financial services, insurance, healthcare payers, and video/broadband industries, DST now extends AWD's benefits to hospitals, health systems, and other healthcare providers.
"We selected AWD based on its ability to streamline business operations and reduce processing costs, which will help us to direct more of our resources to serving patient needs," said Jim Hobbs, Mercy executive vice president and chief operating officer.
The implementation of AWD will help healthcare providers address the industry's increased regulations and combat the rising cost of business operations, while increasing profitability and productivity with imaging-enabled workflow. AWD's paperless, automated work delivery will enable providers to process medical claims more efficiently and reduce claims payment turnaround.
St. John's Mercy initially will implement AWD workflow in three business areas: Admitting, Health Information Services, and the Central Business Office. AWD will capture inbound medical records, store the records in AWD's information repository, and deliver work automatically to appropriate co-workers and physicians through the billing process, based on the hospital's business rules and requirements. Authorized administrative co-workers and physicians across the organization will have immediate access to the patient files in AWD, rather than having to sift through paper files to resolve questions and issues. AWD will also tighten information security by ensuring that only designated individuals can view information and by tracking access to records as they progress through processing.
Tracy Shelby, DST's Director of AWD Sales and Marketing, said "We look forward to working with Sisters of Mercy Health System and are confident in AWD's ability to improve Mercy's operational efficiencies while boosting their bottom line. The DST team worked closely with Mercy to develop the business case for this implementation. We expect to see a significant reduction in paper-intensive processing coupled with productivity improvements resulting from Mercy's implementation of automated workflow."
About DST Technologies, Inc.
DST Technologies, Inc. is a wholly owned subsidiary of DST Systems, Inc. Through sophisticated information processing and computer software services and products, DST helps clients improve productivity, increase efficiencies, and provide higher levels of customer service. For clients in a variety of industries, including mutual funds, brokerage healthcare, insurance, and video/broadband, Automated Work Distributor (AWD) has helped reduce the cost of operations while increasing the speed and accuracy of transaction processing and customer service through business process management technology.
The Sisters of Mercy Health System, based in St. Louis, Missouri, operates hospitals, physician practices, outpatient clinics, health plans, and related health and human services in a seven-state area including Arkansas, Kansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Oklahoma and Texas. Its members include 19 acute care hospitals providing nearly 4,500 licensed beds, a heart hospital, a psychiatric hospital, a managed care subsidiary (Mercy Health Plans), physician practices, outpatient care facilities, home health programs, skilled nursing services and long-term care facilities. Services are provided by approximately 27,000 co-workers and 4,000 physicians who are employed or practice at Mercy facilities.
St. John's Mercy Health Care is a leading health care organization that includes St. John's Mercy Medical Center in Creve Coeur and St. John's Mercy Hospital in Washington, Mo., as well as Mercy Medical Group, Unity Health Services and Unity Health Network. St. John's Mercy Health Care is a member of the Sisters of Mercy Health System.
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