UMass Memorial Laboratories Improves Quality and Performance using the Performance Insight™ Dashboard from Visiun

WORCESTER, Massachusetts – December 6, 2011 – UMass Memorial Laboratories has realized immediate benefits and valuable support for ongoing process improvements following deployment of the Performance Insight™ Dashboard from Visiun.

The Performance Insight™ Dashboard is a powerful tool that provides increasingly busy directors and managers with the ability to monitor key performance metrics, providing critical support for both Lean and Six Sigma process improvements.

The dashboard is a custom reporting application that provides exceptional reporting flexibility while also designed for ease of use. Each manager can receive a relevant performance summary with detailed reports identifying the timing and extent of any performance problems.

“With the high volume of testing performed in our laboratory at 3 different locations and various expectations of turnaround times by location (ED, ICU, Outreach clients, STAT vs. Routine etc.), the Dashboard provides us continuous visibility into day to day issues” according to Dr. L.V. Rao, Senior Director of Clinical Lab operations and Director of Core Laboratories and Immunology. “These reports give us an opportunity to manage effectively and to be able to track performance by providing continuous feedback to both administrative as well as physician leadership.”

“From a quality standpoint, the Performance Insight™ Dashboard has given our organization the ability to look at the fine details of our operation” said Kimberley A. Parker, Sr. Decision Support Analyst for UMML. “We are able to see the wide scale view and also detailed levels such as individual department, priority of specimen and analyte in a timely fashion without the painstaking task of continually having to set up new reports. We are able to quickly identify where our organization is thriving and also the areas that need improvement. Being able to mine numerous LIS fields using different report types yields extremely powerful and effective data.”

Ms. Parker adds “The team at Management Insight [Visiun] has been very responsive to our suggestions for enhancements and have implemented every one of them. The dashboard allows us to maintain over 700 reports in our database, most of those being distributed daily. Ad Hoc reporting is extremely helpful for those “on the fly” reports and also for report configuration. Visiun has gone above and beyond to ensure our facility that quality, detailed, user friendly reports are available.

James B. McKenney, Quality Assurance Manager for UMML, confirms that the Performance Insight™ Dashboard has provided valuable support. “Our use of the Performance Insight Dashboard has proved to be an invaluable QI tool which has aided Lab Managers in targeting quality improvement efforts. Dashboard use has led to more timely reporting of test utilization and turnaround time (TAT) performance. The daily reporting of test volume, TATs and TAT exceptions by the hour of the day has provided valuable data which managers have used to address staff scheduling, QC and instrument maintenance and choice of performing lab and has resulted in improved Lab performance.”

UMass Memorial Laboratories services diverse physician population ranging from primary care to specialty clinics. Susan Mills, Director of Clinical Laboratory Operations, explains the value for customers. “The dashboard tool has provided us with a visual system that we can share with not only our staff but also with our customers. We recently have been involved with a user group to review opportunities to lean up our processes and improve TAT for their area. The dashboards are a great visual to show exactly how we are performing - not just that we are meeting our published 60 minute STAT goal. We are able to meet monthly and share this data with our customers and we can also review daily for trends.”

UMass Memorial Laboratories

UMass Memorial Laboratories (UMML) serve the UMass Memorial Medical Center (UMMMC), the region's trusted academic medical center, committed to improving the health of the people of Central New England and the clinical partner of the University of Massachusetts Medical School. UMMMC is a 900 bed facility with two locations, and the region’s only Level 1 trauma center for adults and children.

UMML’s main regional laboratory is located in the Worcester Biotechnology Park and performs a broad range of routine and esoteric tests with fast turnaround times, utilizing high capacity, state-of-the-art equipment and front-end automation.

UMML has extensive experience providing laboratory services for large multi-specialty group practices, smaller group practices, solo physicians, community health centers, skilled nursing facilities, hospitals and other health care providers throughout New England.

The primary reference lab for the member hospitals as well as other hospitals and health care providers (>500) throughout MA, NH, RI and northern CT, UMML is the largest clinical laboratory provider in central MA performing over 18 million tests per year and providing lab services for more than 5,000 physicians.

Visiun

Visiun, located in Ann Arbor, Michigan, serves the laboratory industry with expert professional and analytical services that are unmatched in the industry.

Their extensive experience in research and development has led to the introduction of two industry leading innovations: a custom daily performance dashboard and a comprehensive turnaround time benchmarking service.

Additional information is available at https://visiun.com