Going paperless: Internal medicine team goes green, saving about $60,000 annually

Department: Internal medicine—Unit 2 at East Interstate Medical Office,
Portland, Oregon (Northwest)

Problem: The unit-based team was concerned with the amount of paper wasted through miscellaneous printouts that weren’t really needed for the patients or staff.

Value compass: Affordability, service

Labor co-lead: Binh Trang Vo, medical assistant, SEIU Local 49
Management co-lead: Mike Anderson, Patient Care Manager
Physician co-lead: Tom Harbison, MD

Metric: This team estimated that it uses nearly 510,000 sheets of paper each year printing out the “vitals sheet,” a costly NCR form, and the pre-visit summaries, which are a seven- to nine-page report. It was a real eye opener to realize that by going without these printouts, the department could save about $60,000 per year.

First small test: Clinicians opted to print the Panel Support Tool, a one-page patient summary, instead of printing the multi-page pre-visit summary.

Result: Within two weeks, all clinicians were on board. Physicians were asked three questions to determine their level of satisfaction with going paperless:

• 100% of the six clinicians surveyed reported better clinician and staff satisfaction,
• 50% said speed of practice was better and 50% said it was the same, and
• 67% said quality of patient care was the same, while 33% said it was better.

No respondents chose “worse” in answer to any question.

Next step: The UBT expanded the process and stopped printing the vital sheet. “After working so hard to take care of our patients, I found it very refreshing when our medical assistants came up with idea of reducing paper waste. They do the emptying of our recycle bins and so were quite tuned into how many trees we were cutting down,” says physician co-lead Tom Harbison, MD.