The challenge
Lower Umpqua Hospital, a critical access hospital in Reedsport, Oregon, serves a rural population with a wide range of essential healthcare services. As part of its ongoing efforts to improve operational efficiency and reduce administrative burden, the hospital implemented a solution to automate the manual faxing of result reports and provider documentation from its MEDITECH Expanse as a Service (MaaS) EHR.
William Tollefson, Clinical Informaticist at Lower Umpqua Hospital, was tasked with streamlining workflows across departments. Prior to implementing Communication Director from Forward Advantage, staff manually faxed all results and reports—a time-consuming and error-prone process.
“Manual faxing was a major pain point,” said William. “It took up valuable time that staff could have spent on other responsibilities.”
The solution
Lower Umpqua Hospital implemented Communication Director to automate the faxing of finalized documentation and result reports. The solution integrates with MEDITECH Expanse and utilizes Communication Director SmartRoutes to automatically send fax documents to outside providers based on predefined keywords.
Departments that benefit include:
Laboratory
Radiology
Provider Documentation finalized via the CC function in MEDITECH
With Communication Director, these documents are automatically identified and faxed without manual intervention, significantly improving workflow efficiency.
Key features & benefits
Automatic report sending: Automatically identifies and sends documents using keyword-based logic.
Time Savings: Staff spend less time manually faxing, allowing them to focus on other duties.
Workflow Efficiency: Ancillary departments benefit from streamlined processes and reduced administrative overhead.
“The most popular feature among staff is the time saved,” said William. “They’re no longer tied up with repetitive faxing tasks.”
Implementation experience
The implementation involved collaboration between Forward Advantage and MEDITECH to configure the Communication Director SmartRoutes based on standard content report keywords. While the effort on Lower Umpqua’s side was moderate, both vendors provided strong support throughout the process.
“It took about 2–3 months once we reached the right phase of our MEDITECH Expanse (MEDITECH as a Services) implementation,” said William. “The setup was well-supported, even though we faced some challenges due to COVID-related disruptions.”
Working with Forward Advantage
William highlighted the professionalism and responsiveness of Forward Advantage’s support team.
“Support has been quick and professional. Any issues we’ve had were resolved quickly. The implementation had a few bumps, but that was mostly due to the timing during COVID.”
Results & benefits
Lower Umpqua Hospital has seen clear improvements since implementing Communication Director:
Staff Efficiency: Employees can focus on higher-value tasks.
Reduced Manual Work: Faxing is now automated, minimizing errors and delays.
Improved Workflow: Departments operate more smoothly with less administrative burden.
Final takeaway: automation that delivers
Lower Umpqua Hospital’s experience with Communication Director demonstrates the value of automating routine tasks in a healthcare setting. The solution has helped the hospital reduce manual work, improve staff efficiency, and streamline communication with outside providers.
William’s advice to other hospitals:
“Start early, be involved, ask questions, and learn all you can about the service and how to use it successfully.”
