By Ian Lane, OD
Integrating your electronic health record system with the EHR of other healthcare providers enables you to improve the patient care you provide.
One of the most exciting opportunities offered by electronic health records is the ability to better co-manage patient health with other doctors. Connecting your electronic records with those of other healthcare providers is made easier with tools like AOAExcel’s XNetwork, cloud-based healthcare applications intended to drive doctor productivity, improve patient care and connect doctors to the broader healthcare community. XNetwork boosts quality and effectiveness of co-management significantly, as pertinent patient information is instantly made available to the co-managing doctor in a standardized format that can be “consumed” (imported) into a certified EHR, even if the EHRs used by the co-managing doctors are from different EHR vendors. There is great advantage to co-managing patients when the co-managers are separated by long distances. Here is a primer on the benefits of EHR-enabled co-management from the doctor’s and the patient’s perspective.
Tools to Aid Your Transition to EHR:
Introducing XNetwork
AOAExcel, a wholly owned subsidiary of the American Optometric Association, is leading the way in patient care with a new innovative Health Information Exchange and Practice Support Network, available in March 2013.
XNetwork is a powerful selection of cloud-based healthcare applications intended to drive doctor productivity, improve patient care and connect doctors to the broader healthcare community. The portal, powered by AT&T Healthcare Community Online, has many benefits and features:
Benefits
• Vendor-neutral experience, giving doctors and administrators a high level of flexibility in selecting applications.
• Value-add services on top of traditional health information exchange functions.
• Streamlined workflow and quicker access to relevant patient data.
• Supports meaningful use by enabling the exchange of patient records and user authentication to certain pre-integrated certified applications.
Features
• Cross-system presentation of patient records, including medications, alerts, clinical documents, lab results, clinical statistics, problems, procedures and images.
• Rich integration with practice management systems (PMS) for patient demographics and appointment schedule.
• Customer administration and control of user access, privileges, content and presentation of clinical information.
• Pre-integration, including single sign-on (SSO) access to a catalog of best-of-breed health IT.
For more information, visit www.excelod.com/toolkit.
Reliability and Efficiency for Doctors
Information that is sent EHR-to-EHR without human intervention can be trusted more than records that rely on a staff member’s memory and organizational skills. Here are some of the key reliability and efficiency benefits:
Up-to-date information. The patient’s healthcare providers always have the most current health information.
Information presented in recognizable format. The information is displayed in the format of the viewing provider’s EHR. Therefore, they are less likely to overlook anything due to being unfamiliar with the incoming report format.
Comparable data. Since the data is in standardized structured format, the incoming data can be queried against prior data in the doctor’s EHR.
Doctor gets big picture. Since the incoming data will be aggregated from all of a particular patient’s providers, the doctor examining the patient today has a complete picture of the case and is no longer operating in a silo.
Doctor sees all previous testing. Special testing such as fundus pictures, visual fields, OCT studies, in addition to other imaging studies conducted by the various health care sub-specialties, will be visible to the provider.
No need for duplicate testing. The need for duplicating testing that is still current and relevant will no longer occur as the silos on patient data are broken down. (Taking significant cost out of the health system is a primary driver in healthcare reform.)
Each doctor will receive the most current legible information including:
Problem list (active and resolved diagnoses)
Medication list (both active and discontinued; ability for e-prescribing)
Medication allergies (both active and resolved; ability for e-prescribing)
Lab test result histories such as bloodwork.
Access to other imaging studies such as MRIs, PET Scans, X-Rays and other radiological studies.
Each doctor can participate in the patient’s medication reconciliation and correct any misunderstandings a patient may have about the frequency of taking several different medications (how often do we hear that a patient is taking a medication four times a day that should be once daily as they are confused with a similar looking medication that is now being taken once a day that should be four times a day?).
Safety and Convenience for Patients
From the patient’s perspective the following benefits will be apparent:
Less filling out of forms. No more filling out the same (or very similar) questionnaires each time they walk into a doctor’s office.
Is Your EHR Software CCHIT-Certified?
HIPAA, your patients’ privacy rights, are in question any time you transmit protected health information (PHI) including for purposes of co-management.
The federal government has standards for determining whether the electronic records software you purchase is capable of protecting your patients’ private health information. The Certification Commission for Health Information Technology (CCHIT) isthe government agency that oversees this process. If the software is not CCHIT-certified, then the software cannot be used to bill Medicare or Medicaid.
Before you purchase your EHR, ensure that it is CCHIT-certified. —ROB Editors
Less wait time before appointments. Electronic records shared easily between doctors reduces the staging time between showing up for an appointment and actually getting seen by the doctor as the amount of paperwork is reduced or eliminated that the patient will have to complete before the doctor can examine them because that information will already be in the patient chart in the doctor’s EHR.
Patients have no need to worry about remembering what another doctor told them. Patients have no more stress having to try and accurately remember what the previous provider told them in order to communicate (with context) at today’s appointment.
Patients don’t have to remember when last physical exam or other doctor visits occurred. Patients won’t have to try and remember how long it’s been since their last physical exam (A typical response might be.. “I think I had my physical about 18 months ago”…. When in reality is may be four or five years ago.
Patients don’t even have to remember names of past doctors. Patients also don’t have to try and remember the names of the doctors they have seen in the past in order for their current doctor to try and communicate to obtain prior patient history.
Patients don’t have to visit past doctor to pick up records. Patients won’t have to pick up prior records or a report from the previously seen doctor and no need to carry imaging studies from one doctor appointment to the next.
Reports from other doctors are always there in time for patient’s appointment. Patients never have to show up for an appointment only to find that the prior practice was to mail a report before today’s visit, but a) it was not mailed in time or b) it was not filed into the patient’s legacy paper chart in time for today’s appointment.
Patients don’t have to bring all medications to every doctor visit. Patients no longer have to walk in to an appointment with a bag full of medications because they don’t have an accurate up-to-date list of active medications and dosages to show the doctor.
Improves Health Care Overall for Society
Co-management via EHR improves the standard of patient care no matter which branch of health care we think of by lessening the chances of hazards like one doctor prescribing a medication that negatively interacts with the medication prescribed by another doctor, or one doctor initiating care that doesn’t take into consideration a test result from a previous doctor that the patient forgot to tell them about.
The cost of health care also is reduced by eliminating the need for duplicate testing and by finding the right treatment for patients faster thanks to the information about the patient’s health now at the doctor’s fingertips.
EHR-facilitated co-management provides mobility of health care information. For example, let’s say a person from San Diego is on vacation in NYC and gets hit by a taxi on Lexington Avenue and 42nd St. They are rushed to the hospital and the patient has a significant health history with allergies to medications. If the health information can be obtained in advance of the patient being admitted then serious consequences, or even a death, can be avoided.
Related ROB Articles
Boost Efficiency: Connect Your EHR to Your Other Software
Key to EHR Staff Training: Train “Super-Users” Who Then Train Others
Personalize Patient Care with Help from Your EHR System
Ian Lane, OD, is an experienced health information technology executive, accomplished lecturer and writer, with almost 30 years of extensive ophthalmic and global experience. As AOAExcel’s chief medical Information officer, he directs and overseas the development of next generation HIT, connectivity and interoperability platforms.
