Friday, June 8, 2012

"DIRECT saves time."

Last week, EMRlogic participated in the 2012 Direct Implementation and Adoption Summit in Washington, DC, a meeting of the ONC State HIE Program. We played our part in the Direct Demonstration Showcase. The showcase featured 15 use cases, each one selected to demonstrate how the Direct protocol is being used to improve the secure exchange of protected health information at a national level. (You can see more about our role here.)


The last day of the meeting began with an open mic, inviting comments from attendees. The first comment came from a Rhode Island executive, a short but profound statement: "Direct saves time."


Our use case was a great example of that, not due to the case details but because our technology has achieved what the ONC Director, Dr. Farzad Mostashari said would be realized system wide in Stage 2. As we continue down Reform Road, moving from electronic health records (the collection of PHI) to electronic communications (the exchange of PHI), we indeed have the opportunity to save time ... and effort as well.


Picture this sequence of events: 
  • you receive a Continuity of Care Document from a primary care physician for a patient you have never seen in your office 
  • your software consumes the CCD and, in so doing, automatically creates and populates a new patient file, complete with patient demographics
  • your software also creates an exam record, complete with the new patient's problem list, medication list, allergy list and lab results.
Remember how you worried that EHRs would slow you down? Indeed they can. And remember when you thought your software required too many clicks? That may be true as well. But here's an example of how the intended exchange of CCDs can save you hundreds of clicks and 15 minutes per patient. The time saved is not just provider time but also staff time and patient time.

Any way you slice it, that's a significant benefit to your business. Think of it not only as saving time but also leveraging effort. As you engage in communications and understand where connected care can take your practice, recognize that every time another office enters patient information into their software, you have the opportunity to leverage their time and effort.

Direct saves time ... and effort.

Alistair Jackson, M.Ed.


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