ALCHEMIST (Anesthesia Log, Charge Entry, Medical Information, and Statistics).

Abstract This paper presents an automated system for the handling of charges and information processing within the Anesthesiology department of the University of Arkansas for the Medical Sciences (UAMS). The purpose of the system is to take the place of cumbersome, manual billing procedures and in the process of automated charge generation, to compile a data base of patient data for later use. ALCHEMIST has demonstrated its value by increasing both the speed and the accuracy of generation of patient charges as well as facilitating the compilation of valuable, informative reports containing statistical summaries of all aspects of the UAMS operating wing case load. ALCHEMIST allows for the entry of fifty different sets of information (multiple items in some sets) for a total of 107 separate data elements from the original anesthetic record. All this data is entered as part of the charge entry procedure.