American College of Physicians

The American College of Physicians (ACP) was founded in 1915 to uphold the highest standards in medical education, practice, and research. ACP is the largest medical specialty society in the world, with approximately 115,000 members. Its mission is to enhance the quality and effectiveness of health care and foster excellence and professionalism in the practice of medicine. In 2004, ACP's Medical Laboratory Evaluation (MLE) division debuted a unique application which blends two modes of capture - imaging-based recognition and web-based data entry - through one capture system that is easy for MLE to administer and manage. In recognition of its advanced features, the application received a 2004 Process Innovation Award from Kinetic Information and IMERGE Consulting.

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The Challenge

One of the important services ACP provides is the regular testing of the nation's medical laboratories in the U.S., Canada, and the Pacific Rim. ACP's MLE unit is one of several programs approved to offer testing for certification by the Center for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS). Three times a year, MLE sends out thousands of testing samples and a 101-page examination booklet, to be filled out by lab physicians. Participants have three weeks to test the blood samples and accurately report their findings back to MLE. If they fail two tests in a row, CMS has the right to revoke their license.

MLE processes tests not only for ACP members, but also for the American Association of Family Physicians (AAFP) and government labs through a contract with the Government Services Administration (GSA). Each organization features a different format for the testing booklet. For example, MLE and GSA tests employ constraint boxes for physicians to write in results by hand. AAFP tests utilize constraint boxes for handprint and bubble checkboxes.

Connie Laubental reports that the Datacap system provides them with the highest possible accuracy.

While the paper-based system was meeting ACP's needs, increasingly, MLE customers began to request a way to submit test data on-line. In 2002, Laubenthal and MLE began to search for a web-based solution. However, they were concerned that they would have to manage two separate systems, with administration and integration headaches, since a significant percentage of physicians indicated that they would continue to use the paper booklet to submit test results. It was during this search when Laubenthal received a notice from Datacap regarding the release of Taskmaster 5, with its Taskmaster Web browser-based scanning and indexing capability. "When I saw that announcement, it occurred to me that maybe we wouldn't have to manage two separate systems," she recalled. "Maybe Taskmaster could handle it all."

Indeed, Taskmaster's innovative, three-tiered, client-server architecture offered MLE a "hybrid" solution. They could present a web-based data entry screen to their users who wanted to submit test data online, while still supporting the traditional paper-based capture for the users who didn't want to switch to the new mode - all on one system.

The Solution

Working with MLE, Datacap developed a utility to transform each new 101-page booklet into a series of browser-based panels, accessible over the Internet. No programming or scripting is required. Called the Web Data Entry System (WDES), the new solution was activated early in 2004.

The Results

In 2004, Laubenthal reports that 3,000 users were served by the system, about 500 of them via the Internet. She predicts the percentage of web-based users will continue to rise as the overall number also increases. "What the web-based system provides us is the highest possible accuracy, because it eliminates ACP as the interpreter of handwritten data," she states. "By combining it with our paper-based capture system, MLE can manage the entire system with the staffing and administration process we already had in place."