Sumner County Emergency Medical Services announced that they would be using Motion Computing’s F5 Rugged Tablet PC as their mobile field tool. This enabled them greater access to patient data.
One of the main problems that Sumner County was seeing was data collection, specifically in the area of patient billing. They upgraded their software in order to improve the data collection process, but needed hardware that could support their needs. The Motion F5 met those needs with its rugged design, bar-code scanner, RFID reader, fingerprint scanner and digital camera.
This new complement of hardware and software has improved the billing process and patient care. The patients simply sign a digital form directly on the tablet when they get onto the transport vehicle. While in transit the data is collected and sent to hospital staff, so it is there upon arrival. The hospital can the digitally sign any forms upon arrival and everything is update immediately and sent to billing.
This streamlining has saved Sumner County EMS $2 million and improved billing cycle times by 40 percent. “We are now billing back 96 percent which is incredible,” Michael Cook, Sumner County’s IT manager said.
The other rugged devices out there did not meet their needs. According to Cook many had too many moving parts, others were not rugged enough and might break under conditions they would be used in, many others were just too small for the use they needed them for. The F5’s fully sealed design and virtual keyboard on a large screen with integrated handle made it the right choice for Sumner County EMS.