Sentara Partners with CipherHealth to Introduce Orchid, A New Digital Technology to Support Patients and Improve Quality of Care

Real-Time Data Collection During Rounding Delivers Substantial, Measureable Benefits to Sentara

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May 19, 2015, 10:24 ET

NEW YORK and NORFOLK, Va., May 19, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- Sentara Healthcare is partnering with CipherHealth to implement a new software technology aimed at modernizing the rounding process to deliver improved quality of care and satisfaction among patients and staff. Sentara is deploying Orchid, CipherHealth's cutting-edge rounding technology as part of an initiative to streamline the way patients and family members provide feedback during their hospital stays.

Initially launched as a pilot program at two sites, Orchid allowed Sentara to achieve significant improvement in HCAHPS performance. Based on the success of the pilot, Orchid will be rolled out at 10 out of 12 Sentara hospitals in the first half of 2015.

Sentara Healthcare has nine of the top 20 hospitals in Virginia for patient satisfaction. Orchid will help solidify Sentara's position by making sure every patient concern is captured, resolved, and aggregated to support continuous improvement, a vast upgrade from the "pen and paper" rounding of the past.

"We've seen an opportunity to be more purposeful, available, and thorough in our rounding process," said Genemarie McGee, Vice President and Chief Nursing Officer for Sentara Healthcare, "Drive-by rounding isn't enough," she adds. "It's important to have a tool that encourages meaningful conversations between nurses and patients while making it easier to identify areas for improvement."

In developing Orchid, CipherHealth had a dual focus: the patient experience and the user's need to make rounding efficient and effective. This approach led to many helpful features including:

Intuitive Interface that allows for staff to get acquainted with and using the system quickly;
EMR Compatibility to allow for patient data to be pulled directly from the EMR;
Streamlined Issues Management allows for problems to be routed directly from the interface to the appropriate department for service recovery and confirmation of completion;
Robust Analytics Platform allows administrators and staff to create tailored reports to drive process improvement with actionable data.

"We are thrilled to work with Sentara on this exciting initiative," said Alicia Yang, Senior Account Strategist for CipherHealth. "Sentara's dedication to continuously improving not only patient satisfaction, but also the lives of their nurses, is exactly what our products aim to achieve."

Orchid is the second patient care solution from CipherHealth that Sentara has introduced. In 2013, Sentara introduced Voice, a post-discharge follow-up solution designed to reduce patient readmissions. The success of Voice led Sentara to partner with CipherHealth to introduce Orchid across its hospitals in 2015.

About Sentara Healthcare
Sentara Healthcare, based in Norfolk, VA, celebrates a 126 year history of innovation, compassion and community benefit. Sentara is a not-for-profit family of 12 hospitals in Virginia and North Carolina, the Optima Health Plan, an array of integrated services and a team 30,000 strong on a mission to improve health every day. This mandate is pursued through a disciplined strategy to achieve Top 10% performance in key clinical measures through shared best practices, transformation of primary care and strategic growth that adds tangible value to the communities we serve.

About CipherHealth
Since 2009, CipherHealth has been innovating and delivering products to help care providers effectively and efficiently provide quality of care for their patients. By harnessing technology to improve patient outcomes and experiences, CipherHealth and its suite of products focus on the evolution of patient care. CipherHealth is based in New York City and was named "Best Place to Work in Healthcare" by Modern Healthcare (2014).

About Orchid
Orchid is a digital application that ensures rounding is happening consistently and effectively. Orchid helps hospitals aggregate data and identify trends while saving staff time. The goal of Orchid is to boost staff efficiency, improve outcomes and increase patient satisfaction.

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SOURCE CipherHealth