Profile: Westchester Medical Group

Westchester Medical Group is a multi-specialty group practice based in White Plains, NY offering a full compliment of medical specialties and ancillary services. With more than 100 physicians on staff, Westchester Medical believes in utilizing a team approach to providing the very best in coordinated care for their patients. Through a continued commitment to utilizing state-of-the-art technology, Westchester Medical has become a national leader in innovative ways to simplify and streamline patient care. This optimization of information exchange has allowed Westchester Medical to create a coordinated healthcare experience to the benefit of both providers and patients.

“To truly advance the quality and manage the cost of care in America, the medical community needs to utilize available technologies, like Kryptiq’s connectivity tools, to re-imagine and reengineer its core workflows,” said Simeon Schwartz, MD, CEO of Westchester Medical Group. “It is only after we reexamine and change how care is delivered, that we can harvest new levels of achievement in the quality of care and the preservation of valuable resources.”

As part of their strategy to improve communications, Westchester Medical Group implemented Kryptiq’s Connect IQ™ Solutions to increase office efficiency. Their corporate website allows patients to request many common services, including renewing medications or requesting a referral. Secure email enables new levels of communication between providers, patients and pharmacies. Westchester also provides electronic prescribing through the SureScripts® network of pharmacies, improving prescription accuracy and patient convenience. Since each of these solutions integrates with their GE Centricity® EMR, all communications begin from Westchester Medical’s existing practice workflows and utilize the most up-to-date clinical information.

The effects of these improved workflows and their resulting savings can also be seen throughout the office. Thanks to the paperless workflows and use of effective information technologies, 3,000 square feet of previous document storage has been converted to care-giving and revenue-producing office and exam room space. Patient delays, from office wait times to the time it takes to receive lab reports, have been significantly reduced.

One of the improved processes in the office is that of communicating normal lab and test results to patients. Dr. Schwartz explains that it used to take about 20% of a medical assistant’s time to prepare, send and manage the process of communicating normal lab and test results with their patients. Now, with the Kryptiq solutions, these are sent out with just a few keystrokes by Westchester Medical’s providers. Not only is the process faster and less expensive, it is secure, automatically documented in the chart, and tracked to ensure patients have seen the results. “This has been the single biggest win for both our staff and patients”, says Dr. Schwartz.

“It is totally possible to reduce your organization’s costs by 30 percent over 5 years, but it requires improvements in productivity,” says Dr. Schwartz. ”Medicine is about the point-to-point relationships between patients, physicians, nurses, and specialists. Kryptiq’s Provider Solutions have allowed us to improve these relationships by simplifying and securing how we share important information. When we moved to an EHR, I found I had more time to sit and talk to patients. Now, I am even more available to my patients, in a way that is efficient for them and for me.”