Health systems are under increasing pressure to grow, streamline operations and eliminate manual processes, all without compromising patient care.
During a recent discussion at Becker’s 10th Annual Health IT + Digital Health + RCM Conference, leaders from Intellistack and Synergy Orthopedics discussed how one organization leveraged no-code tools and data fabric technology to boost efficiency and prepare for rapid expansion.
Here are four key takeaways from the discussion.
1. Digital-first efficiency
Synergy Orthopedics, a medical equipment supplier operating across seven East Coast states, has seen a fivefold increase in claims volume over the past decade. With their team now dealing with 15,000 claims per month, paper-based workflows weren’t an option anymore.
To reduce delays, Synergy adopted digital signature and form tools from Intellistack. The organization initially used it to collect patient and physician signatures, but quickly expanded usage to every department, from HR to finance.
“Most of our patient population is able to use it pretty easily and our backend team loves it,” Sarah Staley, director of billing operations at Synergy Orthopedics said. “We can guarantee the information that we need is the information that we get.”
2. A more efficient experience
Moving to digital forms significantly reduced turnaround times. Paper-based claims could take weeks to process, but now Synergy can bill insurance carriers the same day.
The switch also eliminated recurring supply costs. Each paper packet used to cost Synergy on average $1.50, Ms. Staley explains. When multiplied, costs added up and they’ve now been eliminated completely.
“Digital forms allow us to get information back and build the claim immediately, it’s significantly improved our processes,” Ms. Staley shared.
3. Workflows scale with growth strategy
With an eye toward expansion, Synergy is now piloting Intellistack Streamline, a workflow automation platform with embedded data fabric and real-time integration. The goal: enable seamless data exchange between Synergy’s systems and partner hospitals’ electronic medical records.
“Our vision is to trigger a patient lookup in the practice’s EMR, pre-fill the form, and write it directly back into our own system, all without manual entry,” Ms. Staley said.
The platform provides organizations with three core capabilities: a customizable workflow engine, an embedded data fabric for real-time data integration and built-in enterprise-grade security.
Because it allows seamless integration with legacy platforms and other existing data sources, scalability is easily achieved. With components like forms, e-signatures, conditional logic and collaboration tools, users can automate entire workflows from step one to step 10 for seamless transformation.
4. Partnership enables transformation
Sarah Galyon, senior director of healthcare solutions at Intellistack and former technical operations manager at University of Tennessee Medical Center, said Synergy’s story is increasingly common.
Healthcare teams often evolve workaround-heavy workflows that become inefficient over time.
“Bring the people to the table and have a conversation,” Ms. Gaylon advised. “You’ll be able to design something intentionally that will be much more readily accepted and then it’ll be successful and you’ll have a lot less failed implementation.”
As healthcare embraces digital transformation, the message from Synergy and Intellistack was clear: start small, listen to your teams, and design with purpose.
