Children’s Hospital CO: Improving Care While Saving $40k
How Children's Hospital Colorado is improving pediatric care while saving $40k a year.
Executive summary
Children’s Hospital Colorado is known for adopting new technology where it meaningfully affects pediatric patient outcomes. In keeping with that commitment, the team recognized a persistent gap between prehospital and in-hospital care, and set out to close it.
By automating data exchange with ESO Health Data Exchange (HDE), the health system cut the wait for EMS patient data from an average of six days to about three minutes, and freed roughly $40,000 a year in staff productive hours.
Results
- Real-time automated loop closures with hospital outcome data for 95% of EMS patient transports
- Insights into interventions, responses, and prehospital reports arrive automatically at patient handoff, reducing potential harm
- Regulatory requirements for capturing and integrating EMS and hospital data are comfortably exceeded, with little to no manual burden on staff
“The ability to open a chart and see EMS documentation in real time is a game changer for our Emergency Department management. We can see the time of interventions, the patient’s response, and the details in the care. All this paints an important picture for the patient prior to our evaluation and is a key component of functioning in a system of healthcare.”
Kathleen Adelgais, MD, MPH, FAAP, FAEMS
Emergency Medicine – Pediatrics, Director, Colorado EMS for Children Program
Children’s Hospital Colorado
The challenge
For years, the hospital relied on manual workflows to match EMS clinical data to hospital medical records. Through a tedious process of phone calls, faxes, and emails, the EMS report arrived three to five business days after the patient. It was then entered into the hospital medical record by hand, taking another two to three days.
That administrative load limited how efficiently prehospital clinical data could be collected. It also placed a time burden on trauma teams, restricted access to deeper data, created openings for reporting inaccuracy, and exposed both the institution and its providers to unnecessary risk.
The team made progress over the years, but only with the tools available at the time. Each step in the right direction added complexity to the existing system, which slowed the transfer of data further. To keep pace with how quickly patient care is evolving, the hospital needed immediate data interoperability.
Modernizing their processes
Children’s Hospital Colorado automated the data process between EMS and the hospital using a system with interoperability built in. Clinical care teams can now reach EMS records while the patient is still being treated in the emergency department, supporting evidence-based decisions from a consolidated, near-time view. The result has been better patient outcomes, stronger collaboration across teams, and a more proactive approach to performance.
What the hospital can now do
- Get patient data almost instantly
- See a 360-degree view of the patient journey
- Strengthen relationships with EMS partners
- Reduce the burden of manual processes
- Spend more time on patient-centered care
- Raise the bar on care
“ESO Health Data Exchange has been helpful in bridging the gap between prehospital provider follow-up and in-hospital care. This process opens the door for bi-directional feedback and collaboration while enhancing these essential relationships.”
Lana Martin, MHL, BSN, RN, TCRN, CPEN, CEN, CPSTI
Director of Trauma Programs
Children’s Hospital Colorado – Enterprise
What led them to choose ESO
The team selected ESO HDE and the wider suite of ESO products against a clear set of criteria.
What is next
Continuing its record of clinical technology adoption, Children’s Hospital Colorado is taking on three more projects.
