Connecting the Care Dots

I recently read an article Can the benefits of hospitals acquiring practices be achieved by other means?, which has sparked a lively bit of conversation on the HIMSS LinkedIn page. The author writes that hospitals are acquiring private practices primarily to increase Accountable Care Organization (ACO) reimbursements.

Whatever the motivating factor, private practice acquisition alone does not solve the underlying issue: providing continuous, connected care for patients. The challenge is to fill in the communication gaps between the primary care provider (PCP) and specialist, the emergency room physician and admitting hospitalist, and the hospital back to the PCP. Here are just three of the opportunities I see that can make strides toward connecting the care dots for patients:

·         Give employees access to both your full staff directory and on-call schedule info on their mobile devices (smartphone, tablet, Wi-Fi phone, etc.)

·         Helps coordinate care across multiple hospital departments by facilitating communication among staff for patient admittance, transfers, and discharges

·         Provide a practice’s after-hours answering service using the hospital call center

·         Reduces the cost of external answering services and expedites communication with providers on call

·         Implement technology and policies to ensure follow-up of incidental findings discovered during radiology and lab tests

·         Enhances patient care and safety while decreasing liability from unexpected, non-critical findings potentially getting lost in the shuffle