Introduction

RioMed’s flagship software, Cellma, is the solution that will assist your rheumatology team in meeting the ever increasing demands of providing a successful, patient centric service in an evolving NHS environment.

Full clinical and managerial functionality is provided through a range of modules, this includes; full management of patient administration with appointment and clinic scheduling, standardised assessments, virtual wards, automatically generated GP/patient follow up letters, e-prescribing, investigation requesting and results reporting.  Additionally integration with pre-existing departmental or hospital systems such as PAS, pathology, imaging, DEXA and legacy databases facilitates seamless healthcare.

Cellma’s success is reinforced by the numerous sites that have implemented the system to manage their rheumatology services these include; the North-East of England, the South-East of England, many parts of Wales and Ireland.  These sites have reported significant benefits, including measurable financial savings and increased service profitability and efficiency improvements of up to 50%.

Guidelines

• CG59, CG79
• TA195, TA72, TA130, TA186, TA27, TA160, TA161, TA198

The information gathered feeds the development process and automatic Cellma system updates, ensuring your Rheumatology service are able to comply with guidelines and report your success.  In addition Cellma facilitates the meeting of national, local and statutory requirements by automatically generating reports specific to the service.  Cellma reports on all data captured from any/all modules in a number of ways;

• Dashboards – generate specific reports on selected areas at the click of a button.
• Advanced Patient Search (Ad-hoc reporting) – identifies and collates patients according to user defined criteria, for example those using a particular medication or sharing common demographic characteristics.
• Predefined Reports – the measurement parameters are set in advance by users.  These reports are automatically generated in house or sent by RioMed at set intervals.  These reports are often used for the meeting of National/Statutory guidelines.

Specialities

Cellma can be tailored for rheumatology teams of all sizes, and customised to individual specifications, if desired Cellma can manage an entire multidisciplinary team across a whole health network, yet is equally as suited to an individual consultant led team.  Every aspect of Cellma is customisable to your service and personal preferences.  RioMed firmly believe in delivering a flexible system, one which will not dictate the way a team works, but assist them in the work they are doing.  Amongst others RioMed have preloaded best practice assessments for;

• Osteoarthritis
• Rheumatoid arthritis
• Osteoporosis
• Juvenile Arthritis
• Septic arthritis
• Lupus
• Ankylosing Spondylitis

Profitability/ROI

Cellma significantly increases the efficiency of a service in a number of ways as outlined at the beginning of this article.  However the bottom line of efficiency savings is the redeployment of time, return on investment and most importantly the increase in service profitability.  Users can have any number of customised assessments (defined by the user) on Cellma.  The following attributes contribute to efficiency and economic savings made by using Cellma;

• Significantly lower cost than any other similar product currently available
• Patient level costing of all activities within a care episode, including medications, investigations and helplines
• Reports on the cost to the service of delivering new and review appointments
• Automatically generating letters and forms, saving valuable time 

Cellma incorporates a comprehensive reporting module, this allows service managers to accurately generate reports which not only satisfy reporting demands, but also provide detailed breakdowns of costings.  Clinical audits can be conducted for any given time period for all/any activities being delivered within the service e.g. appointments, investigations, helplines, DMARDS or biologics administered.  The reporting criteria are defined by the service and user, tailoring reports to your particular requirements and preferences.  Ultimately Cellma reporting demonstrates how budgets are being utilised and enables informed decision making to increase profitability.  Furthermore, as noted in the NICE commissioning guide, early diagnosis leads to reduced surgery rates, the impact of this would be cost neutral in 9 years.

Research

Research brings considerable revenue streams into rheumatology services, for example patients suitable for research studies are worth up to £2,500 each.  Cellma can assist not only in gaining research funding but also in the research itself.

• Cellma identifies cohorts of patients according to both clinical and demographic criteria
• Reporting criteria can also be tailored to meet the objectives of a particular study
• Increased revenue streams for the researcher and the rheumatology department 

Cellma’s advanced patient search identifies cohorts of patients by any specified characteristics, including demographic and clinical information. Suitable patients can then be approached for research studies.  Cellma can also be used as a research tool during a project, collecting information and reporting on outcomes and trends at the click of a button, or at predefined intervals.  This not only allows researchers to use one system across consultation and research, but also ensures data recapture and analysis is a quick and easily understood process.

Medication management

RioMed recognise the burden placed upon consultants and nurse specialists dealing with highly toxic and expensive medication.  Cellma can aid in medication management, saving time and eliminating the possibility of human error in an particularly high cost area.

• Dosage and frequency of medication are recorded, allowing rheumatologists to change the patient’s level of medication in a monitored and systematic way until they reach the optimum dosage for the individual, particularly useful for DMARD management
• Cellma automatically generates appointment reminders at the end of a treatment period, removing the need to manually check individual due dates
• Provides helpline staff with accurate up to date information
• Warning alert system if contraindications are prescribed

Service Provision

RioMed understand the pressures rheumatology professionals face, constant demands for their time, limited budgets and increasing workloads.  Cellma can reduce these constrictions, and RioMed staff are dedicated to ensuring system upgrades respond to the ever changing NHS environment.

• Capability to share information between as many healthcare professionals are required
• Standardised assessments and simple data entry processes streamline patient care pathways
• Patient self-assessments reduce the quantity of data consultants need to gather during consultations
• Alerts when investigation results are returned, eliminating time spent checking and allowing for fast reactions in organising follow up appointments or care
• Texting or emailing patient appointment reminders significantly reduces the number of DNAs
• Users can set alerts for themselves or colleagues which become marked warnings if tasks become overdue
• Prevents duplication of effort by clinicians in different parts of the rheumatology team
• Reduces the administrative burden

IT

Cellma will integrate with your existing system, and can be adopted by your rheumatology service seamlessly. Cellma is accredited by N3 Connecting for Health and has a number of technical benefits…

• Access from any NHS  terminal computer with internet access
• Touch screen data entry
• Mobile device capability
• Seamless integration with existing third party systems using HL7, JDBC and XML messaging
• Options for local or remote hosting
• No data stored on individual machines 

As a truly web based system Cellma is accessible from any computer, or mobile device, with internet access.  This facilitates the use of laptops and tablets, via wireless or 3G internet connection.  Touch screen compatibility also facilitates ease of data entry whilst on the go or at remote locations.  Seamless integration with third party systems, including laboratory systems, imaging and DEXA, ensures when adopted Cellma causes no disruption to existing systems or processes and ensures all data is captured and becomes available centrally.  RioMed offer the choice of hosting Cellma locally within the hospital intranet, or remotely on RioMed’s Secure Health Application Block (SHAB).

Rheumatoid arthritis alone costs the NHS an estimated £560 million annually (NAO 2009); however by managing your rheumatology service with Cellma you can increase efficiency and profitability. 

Contact us today; we look forward to hearing from you! 

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