How a N.J. Medical Center Saved Millions With mHealth Technology
By Leventhal, Rajiv | |
Proquest LLC |
A SMARTPHONE APP HAS IMPROVED EFFICIENCY THROUGH BETTER COMMUNICATIONS ACROSS THE MEDICAL STAFF BY
Communication breakdowns in healthcare affect care teams and their patients at every stage of the care process, from diagnosis to treatment. Without a network to enable rapid connectivity and remote communication, clinician efforts are hindered while quality of care, patient satisfaction and cost efficiencies suffer.
To quantify the effect that communication breakdowns could have on health systems,
Undoubtedly, the time it takes for clinicians to reach each other drains staff productivity and creates delays in decision-making regarding critical patient-related issues. To this end, just a few years ago, officials at the
Additionally at the 300-bed facility, surgeons reported 2- to 4-hour delays between the time that consults were requested and the time that they were notified, while residents reported up to two days' lag time in getting response on consults. What's more, after procedures, surgeons also faced difficulties communicating their findings and recommendations to referring physicians, who were often disconnected from the hospital's communication system.
These numbers were derived from interviews conducted by Practice Unite, a
"In any industry, communication is always a challenge, as no matter the sector, communication is the key to holding together the workflow," says
Going beyond secure texting to help healthcare organizations make major efficiency improvements using practical, customized mobile applications, Practice Unite provides a platform for communication and collaboration that connects care teams and their patients. For instance, older patients who go into the emergency department might forget the medications they are currently on, meaning there might be some medication interaction that will potentially affect the patient negatively, explains Li. As such, the physician will have to check with that patient's primary care provider (PCP), which can be very difficult to do because PCPs are extremely busy people, Li says. "I experience this situation with my parents, who are both approaching the age of 90. They're kind of sure about their medications, but also not so sure," admits Li.
MILLIONS IN SAVINGS
Since implementation of the Practice Unite application, the results have certainly been there. After about a year of using the technology,
Typically, when a patient enters the observation process, a cascade of phone calls begin that are meant to connect the treating physician with the patient's primary care physician, consulting specialists, nurse practitioners, nurses and therapists. These care team members must rely on inefficient forms of communication to share lab results and other clinical data in order to make treatment decisions. Depending on the nature of the case, this can involve repeated calls to operators and answering services throughout the patient's stay. Consultations requests transmitted through traditional hospital communication channels can take hours to reach specialists, and cause further treatment delays, according to
At
Additionally with the app, communications are responded to six times faster, the medical center reported. Surgeons said that consult response times were reduced by from 2 to 4 hours to 15 to 30 minutes-just by implementing the mobile communication system that allows faster and immediate communication between physicians, nurses and staff. Emergency department physicians report moving patients through the ED 30 minutes faster than without the system, reducing ED delays by 15 percent, notes Turinas.
Lastly, the facility reported a savings of
Li expects to achieve further gains in clinical productivity as Practice Unite is integrated with its electronic health record (EHR), scheduling and laboratory reporting systems. "As time goes on and as the industry builds out its communication ecosystem, places will begin to implement these applications as technology foundations," he says. Using an analogy, Li says, "If you have a driver's license in
STAYING SECURE
When sensitive health information is shared among healthcare professionals, there is a need to ensure that the content is secure, as it contains patient-specific information which can be very sensitive to the individual. On the Practice Unite app, there is no information that resides on the smartphone, so there is nothing to worry about from a data perspective if the smartphone is lost, explains Li.
"I compare the current state [of healthcare security] to three years ago, and there is more public awareness of information security based on a combination of more stringent regulation and also events such as the Target data breach, so the pendulum has really swung in terms of public perception," he says. "They now understand it's a necessary evil-the bad guy will get his information if there isn't that level of protection."
When a healthcare organization evolves their communication ecosystem, this technology will help them with the security aspect, Li says. "You see the direction the industry is going. You're talking about communication within and outside the hospital to other caregivers, to a PCP, to another urgent care center that also provides care for the patient. Pushing care out of the hospital and ultimately into the home is where the government is looking to drive down cost," he says. "In the case of hospitals, volume is dropping, meaning revenue is dropping. You have to do more with less, and you thus need to look at vehicles that will gain cost savings and greater efficiency."
IF YOU HAVE A DRIVER'S LICENSE IN
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