Page 6 - Christiana Care Focus April 2019

Cover Story |
Gateway to Better Health
“So many of the people we serve today are digital consumers, accustomed to using and purchasing services and products through digital platforms,” said Edmondo J. Robinson, M.D., MBA, FACP, chief transformation officer and senior vice president for consumerism. “As health care providers, we keep pace by using technology as a gateway to better health,” Dr. Robinson said.
Christiana Care patients can stay in touch with their health with any smart device or computer.
Registering for the Patient Portal enables patients to view important information about their visits to the doctor, hospital
or emergency room, view lab and imaging results and send and receive messages with their caregivers.
Physicians, physician assistants and advanced practice nurses say patients come to appointments better informed about their health and their care because they can see their health records and doctors notes, and become partners in their care.
“As health care providers, we keep pace by using technology as a gateway to better health.”
Edmondo J. Robinson, M.D., MBA, FACP
Christiana Care supports Health Records on iPhone, which unites hospitals, clinics and the Apple Health app to make it easy for patients to see their available medical records from multiple providers whenever they choose.
Previously, patients’ medical records
were in multiple locations. Even if their records were available digitally, patients would have to log into each care provider’s website and piece together the information manually. Now, using Health Records on iPhone, patients can have medical
information from participating institutions organized into one view, covering allergies, conditions, immunizations, lab results, medications, procedures and vital signs. They receive notifications when their data is updated. For privacy, Health Records data is encrypted and protected with the user’s iPhone passcode, Touch ID or Face ID.
Christiana Care is a leader in making electronic health records accessible, secure and transparent for patients. For example, another Christiana Care initiative supports open notes, which means patients can read physician notes from their visits as part of their electronic health records. Including open notes in the electronic health record is still rare across the nation.
Christiana Care’s transparency efforts also include consumer-generated star ratings and patient reviews in its Find a Doctor website, which help people to make informed decisions about the health care providers they choose.
Express Check-In
Waiting for an appointment when the need is pressing is a familiar frustrating experiences in health care for most of us. To cut down on wait times at its five Medical Aid Units, Christiana Care uses technology to enable easier access and provide convenience with Express Check-In, an innovation that lets patients choose an estimated arrival time.
Patients register online from their
smart phones at christianacare.org/ medicalaidunit and can spend the wait from their home or office. They receive a text 10 minutes before their appointment time.
Patients’ preference for using Express Check-In is rising, said Nicole Harris, BS, RT, administrative director of the medical aid units. Data from the Express Check- In tool shows approximately 25 percent
of patients now use the scheduling tool. And, since Express Check-In helps predict patient volume, it also drives operational improvements, Harris said.
“Our goal is to reduce wait times,” said Harris. With a side benefit of smoothing
out workflow as patients arrive at staggered intervals, Express Check-In also increases efficiency for caregivers. The next advancement for Express Check-In will be streamlining the actual check-in phase, allowing patients to scan a code on their phone, similar to how travelers scan a ticket before boarding a plane.
Similarly, moms-to-be who are scheduled for labor induction can now wait longer and more comfortably at home, thanks to textmessaging. They receive a text when a room is prepared and caregivers are ready to induce labor. Average wait times have fallen by 90 minutes.
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