Utilizing Blue Ocean Strategies for Electronic Health Care Documentation to Navigate the Red Ocean Waters of Health Care Reform

Health care is adrift in a sea of change. In order to navigate challenges, such as health care reform and meaningful use, new strategies are needed. This paper examines the application of health care informatics and leveraging of the electronic health record (EHR) as a strategic tool to impact documentation accuracy and charge capture outcomes in a large academic medical center's surgical services department. UAB Hospital is a 1056 bed hospital located in Birmingham, Alabama with a perioperative department consisting of 32 general operating rooms located on the main campus. This emergent work from June of 2014 and ongoing examines a multifactorial approach using structural system factors combined with process and workflow redesign to improve outcomes. Preliminary results are promising with a reduction in documentation errors and a process redesign that includes data collection of error types for reeducation and engagement of the end-user of the EHR, the staff nurses.