Collecting complete and accurate patient information is essential to delivering high-quality care. At Frances Mahon Deaconess Hospital, traditional intake methods often required substantial staff time and relied on patients to recall details during unexpected phone calls or busy office visits. To improve the care experience for both patients and clinicians, FMDH leaders reevaluated how information could be collected before certain appointments. The health system opted to utilize its MyHealth patient portal to streamline the intake process for departments with many patient-reported screenings.
Working with MEDITECH’s Client Services team, FMDH implemented customized, online questionnaires through the portal, allowing patients to complete forms at their convenience. This new intake process saves staff time, improves documentation accuracy, increases patient portal engagement, and gives providers better information before visits.
Reimagining Medicare Annual Wellness Visits
Previously one of the organization’s most time-consuming documentation processes, Medicare Annual Wellness Visits required a population health nurse to spend approximately 30 minutes on the phone with each patient. The telephonic process often produced incomplete information: Caught off guard, patients often lacked immediate access to medication lists and records.
FMDH partnered with MEDITECH to develop a comprehensive online questionnaire that patients complete through the portal before their appointment. Patients receive a mailed packet encouraging them to complete the questionnaire in advance, providing time to gather information.
The impact has been immediate. Patients answer at their own pace, leading to more thorough and accurate responses. Medication reconciliation is more reliable, and patients are more forthcoming with sensitive assessments such as PHQ-9 depression screenings. Responses allow providers to personalize care while supporting Medicare requirements. Additionally, the population health nurse no longer spends hours on intake calls each day, redirecting that time toward patient care.
Improving prenatal care
Following this success, FMDH expanded the approach to obstetrics, prenatal, and antepartum care. These visits require extensive histories, making them ideal for questionnaires. Patients now complete pregnancy histories, Health Risk Assessments, and other screenings before their appointments. Responses are immediately available in the patient’s chart, enabling providers to identify concerns earlier.
“I love the questionnaires because it gives the patient time to think about the responses, which leads to speed and accuracy during the intake process,” said Certified Medical Assistant Chelsea Wermelskirchen, who works at the facility’s Glasgow Clinic.
Driving patient portal adoption
As a critical access hospital in Montana, FMDH serves a diverse patient population, including many older adults who can be hesitant to use the patient portal — a necessity for online questionnaire access. Enrolling these patients became a priority: FMDH dedicated stations in primary care clinics where staff demonstrated portal features and explained the benefits of completing questionnaires electronically.
Informatics Nurse Darci Ellefson, LPN, who participated in the on-site effort, said, “I encourage everyone to use them. The portal questionnaires are just amazing. They’re huge time savers. In addition to the events on campus, we also enrolled patients at community health fairs.”
Expanding success across the organization
FMDH continues to identify new opportunities, such as completing preoperative assessments online. The organization is currently developing optimized surgical questionnaires to reduce paperwork and streamline pre-op workflows. FMDH also plans to proactively deliver questionnaires directly to patients via Expanse Patient Connect, MEDITECH’s secure SMS communication solution.
“These questionnaires are incredibly versatile and have demonstrated their value across multiple care settings,” said Clinical Informatics Manager Amy Burleson, BSN, RN. “By empowering patients to complete health questionnaires when and where it’s most convenient, Frances Mahon Deaconess Hospital has transformed a time-consuming, burdensome process into one that is more efficient, accurate, and patient-centered.”