News Release
Northwestern Medical Center E.D. cuts costs and improves service with CodoniX
ST. ALBANS, VT, March 1, 2002. Northwestern Medical Center is projecting substantial savings and improved service for patients after recently installing CodoniX coding and charting software in its Emergency Department.
Designed to mirror the way information is already recorded in the E.D., this software lets clinicians record patient data from admission through discharge using a series of mouse clicks. The result is a fully coded, HFCA compliant patient chart produced in real time that's complete and ready to be submitted for billing, virtually eliminating the need for hand-written charts, dictation and transcription.
Louis Dandurand, M.D., one of the Northwestern E.D. physicians who helped evaluate the CodoniX System for use there, estimates they had previously been spending $200,000 per year for transcription services. By eliminating these services, he now anticipates the facility will save approximately half that amount annually over the next five years.
"By switching to the automated CodoniX solution, our experience has been that these facilities can expect an increase in collections of five to 20 percent — and possibly more — depending on their prior baseline level of documentation."
Dandurand also feels that improvements in efficiency resulting from the CodoniX System will have an appreciable impact on patients.
He points out that before switching to CodoniX, the Department's seven physicians and 25 nurses experienced a minimum of a one-day delay before getting back patient records from the transcription service. With CodoniX, however, they now have immediate access to these records for review and consultation.
In addition, by providing the Emergency Department with a solution that frees them from having to manually record information, they can spend more time focusing on the patient, resulting in greater patient satisfaction and improved service.
Northwestern Medical Center joins a rapidly growing number of facilities nationwide seeking to enhance revenues, improve productivity and streamline their services by turning to CodoniX for a proven technology solution.
Headquartered just outside of Washington, D.C. in Herndon, Virginia, CodoniX, Inc. (www.codonix.com) is a privately-held company with a proprietary technology that can be accessed on a local area network or via the Internet to accurately build and code a computerized physician's notes without using complex menus and rigid templates. These notes reduce errors and dramatically increase collections and cut administrative costs associated with dictation, transcription, coding and copying. Other medical specialty documentation applications are currently under development for cardiology, orthopedics, obstetrics/gynecology and family practice.
Contact:
CodoniX, Inc.
Steve Speights
964 Durlston Road
Redwood, CA 94062
(800) 495-7270
E-mail: Stephens@codonix.com
web: www.codonix.com