Reeves Memorial Medical Center
Location: Bernice, Louisiana
Providers: 8
Staff: 110+
Ambulatory clinic services: primary care, chronic care management, women’s health, behavioral health
Azalea ERH user since: September 2022
REEVES MEMORIAL MEDICAL CENTER | CRITICAL ACCESS HOSPITAL AND AMBULATORY CLINIC
From Old to New EHR without a Hitch
How EHR-Integrated Ambient Listening Improves Care and Reduces Burnout
Reeves Memorial Medical Center (RMMC) is a critical access hospital (CAH) that also runs a rural health clinic (RHC) in Bernice, Louisiana. It offers a wide range of services, including primary care, emergency services, swing bed, inpatient care, and outpatient services for radiology, lab, infusion, rehab therapy, respiratory therapy, behavioral health, women’s health, and more.
Reeves Memorial previously used a popular legacy EHR system. The system worked well to connect Reeves’ CAH and clinics. And with the vendor discontinuing its EHR, Reeves was forced to find a system that would let it transition to a new EHR without losing that integration.
After reviewing his options, RMMC CEO David Caston championed the organization’s move to Azalea Health EHR for its ability to integrate with Reeve’s clinic and affordability.
Before Azalea EHR
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Concern of disruption to billing and services when transitioning to new EHR
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Reliable claims and revenue cycle management processes
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Business and billing insights didn’t come directly from the system and was a more manual process
With Azalea EHR
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Continued fast, reliable claim processing with automated billing workflows
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Advanced reporting with easy-to-use financial and clinical performance analytics
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Smooth transition with no interruptions to billing or care
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Ongoing engagement to improve product and processes
A Successful Transition to a New EHR and Continued Support
RMMC chose Azalea EHR for the platform’s affordable, predictable costs and ability to integrate its hospital and clinical workflows. They got even more though, with a hassle-free, seamless transition between old and new EHR systems.
“Change is scary for a CEO. You don’t want to mess things up that are going well. One of those is revenue cycle. And I can say we didn’t skip a beat transitioning to Azalea there. From my chair, we had two goals for our implementation, keep seeing patients and keep the billing going. And we were successful in those things.” David shared.
Robby Welch, CFO, added “It was an easier transition than we could have anticipated. There were, and are, horror stories of changed EHRs and not being able to get claims out for six months from other CEOS and CFOs. We were pleasantly surprised that we were still able to turn over claims.”
To ensure that smooth transition, the Azalea team spent two weeks onsite with both the day and night shifts to make sure the implementation aligned with Reeves Memorials’ workflows and that staff were confident with the move. The Azalea team also carefully planned and executed a custom data migration from Reeve’s legacy systems to Azalea EHR.
In the end, Azalea EHR went live successfully without any disruption to RMMC’s workflows. And 100% of Reeves Memorial’s staff and providers participated in the adoption process.
Even after implementation, onsite visits, weekly check-ins, dedicated touchpoints with key stakeholders continued. The Azalea team modifications to meet the Reeves team needs as needed. And Azalea Customer Success Manager Sarah Erickson continues to provide ongoing support to ensure ongoing success to this day.
David shared, “For the last almost three years now, we’ve had access to the team. They’ve been on site several times. And the willingness to continue to move the product forward has been great.”
“Change is scary for a CEO. You don’t want to mess things up that are going well. One of those is revenue cycle. And I can say we didn’t skip a beat transitioning to Azalea there.”
David Caston
CEO, Reeves Memorial Medical Center
Uninterrupted Claims Processing and Patient Care
By moving to Azalea EHR, Reeves Memorial was able to continue operations without any disruption. With Azalea EHR, providers and billers can continue automatically integrating information between the CAH and ambulatory clinic. Patients and providers make the same fast care transitions. And billing is seamless. Any fear David had of transitioning didn’t materialize.
Reeves also uses Azalea EHR to automate the billing process. Automation lets it process claims quickly, which reduces the time claims spend in accounts receivable (AR) and AR days. The result is integration across the entire revenue cycle including patient registration, billing, collections, and claims management.
The Azalea platform lets Reeves virtually eliminate paper and duplicate charting. The facilities no longer need manual, paper-based documentation. And by eliminating duplicate charting, the staff workload and the risk of error are down.
Clinicians and administrative staff benefit from integrated clinical and hospital workflows, which enables better patient care and more efficient resource management.
Easier Access to Visibility for Compliance and Care
Before Azalea EHR, Reeves Medical had the insights it needed, but was forced to gather them more manually. The advanced reporting tools in Azalea ERH ended that.
Robert shared, “I like to boil things down to the nuts and bolts. Azalea Analytics really allows me to do that. I love the analytics aspect of it especially compared to the chart access reporting and the patient accounting reporting. It’s helped me out in many different areas.”
The Azalea platform also let Reeves do performance management, ad hoc data analysis, and create custom reports. For example, it created a Daily Census report to help manage hospital operations.
Partnering for Initial and Ongoing Success
With the Azalea EHR system, Reeves Memorial has maintained operational workflows between the clinic and CAH and accessed enhanced reporting capabilities that positively impact both its clinical and financial outcomes.
Reeves Memorial now has a future-proof EHR and billing platform that supports both its hospital and ambulatory care services and positions both units for ongoing, long-term success.
The partnership between Reeves Memorial and Azalea shows how the right EHR, combined with collaborative teamwork, continuous feedback, and adaptation, delivers a seamless implementation and tangible results.
David shared, ”These are hard transitions on everyone, and you guys were very receptive, very helpful. The team was always willing to help. From that standpoint, we’re very pleased.
It’s a partnership that didn’t end with implementation. The Reeves and Azalea teams continue to work together to identify added opportunities that evolve. And Azalea EHR continues to evolve to ensure rural health hospitals and clinics nationwide have a platform built for their needs and that keeps them secure and compliant.
