Southern Illinois Healthcare (SIH) has begun validation of automated testing scripts for the acute / inpatient setting as part of their continuing Test Automation as a Service (TAaaS) engagement with Santa Rosa Consulting. The realized success of the first phase that focused on the ambulatory / outpatient workflow scripts ushered in the opportunity to expand the testing protocols for SIH’s EHR installation.
“Automated testing relieves hospital staff from the onerous task of manually testing every workflow prior to a system upgrade and allows them to focus on more patient-centric activities,” states Nickie Fuhrhop, Access and Revenue Cycle Manager and automated testing champion at SIH.
Manual testing processes often mean periods of inactivity while waiting for others to complete their portion of the test-patient journey. The automated test script enters test patients, documents their clinical stay, discharges the test patients, and generates a claim, ensuring every aspect of the EHR works as designed.
SIH has been witness to the advantages of automated testing in five key areas:
- Quality – Improves the quality of testing prior to periodic upgrades. The ability to run all test scripts prior to any upgrade provides assurance that upgrades have been tested thoroughly and prevents unanticipated outcomes related to your EHR upgrade
- Breadth – Automated testing ensures that you cover the breadth of your EHR, ensuring that key workflows from every module are tested
- Frequency – The ability to run your automated test scripts daily allows you to proactively manage changes in your EHR environment. Upgrade preparation effectively begins as soon as the current upgrade is in place
- Volume – Test automation allows you to automatically register greater quantities of test patients and you can test more patient scenarios and workflows than can be achieved in a manual environment
- Resources – Automated test scripts save hours of labor and recurring dependencies across different functional areas
Learn about more aspects of EHR testing ROI improved by test automation.
Automated testing of the EHR provides benefits not only for those who traditionally test the systems but improves satisfaction of care givers due to introduction of defect-free upgrades to the tools they use every day.
This content was originally published on the Santa Rosa Consulting site.