MEDITECH Web Ambulatory
Insights into the Early-Adopter Experience

1. Integration: MEDITECH Delivers What Others Couldn't

MEDITECH has delivered on the biggest selling point of Web Ambulatory—the integration. This win has put customers on the path toward a comprehensive patient record that links together the ED, hospital, and clinics. This integration vision has garnered some initial interest from non-MEDITECH clients and has the potential to attract additional interest from small to midsize health systems. However, the benefits of integration aren’t a given—3 (of 15) organizations report challenges with the flow of patient data or orders/results. These challenges stem from the customer having a hybrid environment of different MEDITECH versions or ending up with less-than-ideal builds after receiving limited guidance from MEDITECH. Overall, MEDITECH’s delivery of an integrated platform shouldn’t be downplayed as other vendors with vast resources, such as McKesson and Siemens, have previously promised and then failed to deliver integrated platforms.

2. Billing: New Setup, Bugs Very Problematic for Most

A year after its release, customers feel Web Ambulatory is about 70% complete. Billing is the biggest gap, which comes as a surprise to customers since billing has traditionally been a strength for both MEDITECH and LSS (MEDITECH’s acquired ambulatory partner). In Web Ambulatory, MEDITECH revamped the revenue cycle process and created a new approach to centralized billing offices that merges inpatient and outpatient billing. However, customers have lacked adequate guidance and training for this new approach, resulting in lost revenue and increased A/R days for about 60% of respondents due to suboptimal builds and insufficient change management. The other 40% were able to make adequate process changes and have had moderate success, though they still experience immaturity and glitches in the software, such as charges being duplicated or not dropping and inefficiencies tied to coding. These challenges have been ongoing; some of the earliest adopters continue to report unresolved issues a year later.

Web Ambulatory EHR is working well and is very successful. We like having one EHR from the emergency room to the hospital. The dictionaries are built together, and we can share our problem lists. Patients can view their medical history queries, their family and social histories, and their medications.” —CMIO

3. EMR: Mobility and UI Are Major Positives for Clinicians

Almost all physician leadership report a positive EMR experience to date, and most feel MEDITECH has been laser focused on improving the EMR over the past year. Web Ambulatory includes new features, such as widgets, which give clinicians a streamlined workflow with access to valuable information at a glance. Thanks to its web-based nature, Web Ambulatory is fully functional on a tablet (something many EMR solutions lack), enabling easy remote provider login. Overall, most are very optimistic for the future based on recent progress made and the benefits they have already experienced. A few issues—such as system slowness, bugs that affect care-team messaging, and lacking content—have somewhat tarnished the overall experience for physicians.

4. Implementations and Training: Guidance Lacking from MEDITECH, Outside Help Recommended

Web Ambulatory’s top challenges are implementation, training, and data migration, all areas for which MEDITECH has no standard, proven approach. Customers have ventured forward on their own, resulting in widely varying satisfaction: about 60% of respondents feel successful, while about 40% have significant challenges. To shore up implementations, MEDITECH recommends using a consulting firm, and many have used firms like Navin, Haffty & Associates to successfully fill in gaps. As for data migration, it can take a lot of effort to get just a small ROI; medications and problems lists that rely on updated libraries or dictionaries are problematic. Were they to start over, customers say they would migrate only patient demographic information, which has been done successfully, or skip the migration altogether.

The web-based component is absolutely loved. In the past, whenever we wanted to connect, we had to have a VPN on our computer and connect back to the hospital. Now we just need a URL, a username, and a password.” —CIO

Navin, Haffty & Associates has knowledgeable consultants. We couldn't have done the implementation without them. They had consultants in most areas, and the consultants were very knowledgeable.” —CIO

Designer
Natalie Jamison