The staff at Parkway Manor, an Illini Manors facility located in Marion, Ill., was tired of cringing when they spent countless hours looking for missing documentation. “Missing documentation often places doubt in the minds of surveyors, families and physicians,”says Tenia Calhoon, administrator at Parkway Manor.

The system that Parkway Manor was using only provided them with basic capabilities to perform Minimum Data Sets and then submit the MDS to the state. “It was not beneficial in coordinating all the documentation and assessments into one, user-friendly system,” says Calhoon. “We were missing the coordination of assessments, notes and orders in a logical system.”

Parkway’s previous technology offered only minimum MDS tools and that was the entire focus of the product. Staff experienced difficulty in tracking documentation required for case load, policies and regulation compliance. They also used an additional system for bookkeeping.

“We needed to look for a system that could coordinate all the care information in a logical, user-friendly environment, with screening tools to improve risk management and recognize reimbursement opportunities,” remarks Calhoon.

Parkway Manor learned of Achieve by visiting the company’s booth at the Illinois Health Care Association and American Health Care Association trade shows. Then, in 2003, an Achieve executive visited with Parkway and provided a presentation of Achieve’s Web-based, fully integrated clinical and financial software system, Achieve Matrix.

Achieve Matrix provides much needed technology for Parkway. For example, resident messages, reports, and the ability to create assessments and events with follow-up protocols and notifications tailored to state and company requirements have tremendously helped Parkway improve quality of care and business processes.

Today, Parkway uses all of Matrix’s Resident Care and Accounts Receivable functionality. Achieve Matrix has helped Parkway Manor streamline business processes. “One of the best benefits or values of the Achieve system to Parkway Manor is the control of documentation,” says Calhoon. “It also increased our ability to properly manage risk in the facility while addressing individual concerns with resident care.”

Another value-add of Achieve Matrix is that the system is user friendly. In fact, Calhoon says that Parkway’s staff easily adjusted to using Matrix. She adds that Achieve’s e-Learning Web site for Matrix helps easily train new staff members.

Achieve Matrix also helps Parkway Manor improve accuracy. “Through the messaging screen, Matrix alerts necessary department heads to review the individual item and take action. By doing this, communication is improved and resident care has improved,” said Calhoon. “We don’t lose relevant care items as with the ‘sticky-note’ communication system.”

The main priority of every long-term care facility is to provide quality resident care. The best way to accomplish that is through spending time with residents. Because Achieve Matrix eases the administrative burden on staff, they can spend more quality time with residents. “It does increase the quality of the time with residents by providing the caregivers with the relevant clinical needs of the resident,” says Calhoon. “For example, the nurse is completely aware of all the conditions affecting the resident while they are with the resident in the assessment process, so they can thoroughly assess the resident. Previously, relevant issues would get lost in the paperwork, the nurse would plan to get back to the resident and things got missed.”

The true test of Achieve Matrix’s impact on the facility was proven during Parkway Manor’s last survey. It was Parkway’s first time through a major survey with Achieve Matrix and its Point of Care functionality. They had one surveyor perform the evaluation in only three days.

“For the first time ever, we had no rush to find documents. Everything, and I do mean everything, that the surveyor needed for 24 residents was readily available in Achieve Matrix,” notes Calhoon. “She only had to leave her survey area for resident interviews and return demonstrations and observations.”

“I cannot stress how important this was to us,” she adds. “We looked organized, the surveyor minimized her time in the building, as well as her time searching for things on the floor.

Access by the surveyor was limited to relevant resident care issues, minimizing the surveyor exposure to non-relevant issues. Any system that maximizes resident care documentation organization, along with reports and summaries of information is a good system.”