A Roadmap to Practice Success and Exceptional Care
eConsults get you to the finish line.
Introducing an eConsult program to physicians can be a difficult task. See the roadmap to practice success and encourage your team by helping your physicians and staff understand the benefits that an eConsult program can bring to your patients. Here is a roadmap that can help you launch successfully with the support of your staff.
PATIENT BENEFITS
Better Outcomes: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7647247/ and https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7174441/
Cost Savings: National Library of Medicine, Altarum, Fierce Healthcare, Statista, and Value Penguin
Equal Access: Patwardhan, B., Mutalik, G., & Tillu, G. (2015). Concepts of health and disease. Integrative Approaches for Health, 53–78. doi:10.1016/b978-0-12-801282-6.00003-6
Short, S. E., & Mollborn, S. (2015). Social determinants and health behaviors: Conceptual frames and empirical advances. Current Opinion in Psychology, 5, 78–84. doi:10.1016/j.copsyc.2015.05.002
Madden, J. M., Lakoma, M. D., Rusinak, D., Lu, C. Y., & Soumerai, S. B. (2016). Missing clinical and behavioral health data in a large electronic health record (EHR) system. Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association, 23(6), 1143–1149. doi:10.1093/jamia/ocw021
Racial and ethnic disparities in healthcare: Updated 2010. American College of Physicians. (2010, May 13). Retrieved June 14, 2022, from https://www.acponline.org/acp_policy/policies/racial_ethnic_disparities_2010.pdf
Khullar, D., & Chokshi, D. A. (2018, October 4). Health, income, & poverty: Where we are & what could help . Health Affairs Brief. Retrieved June 14, 2022, from https://www.healthaffairs.org/do/10.1377/hpb20180817.901935/
Garcia, A., & Blackman, K. (2021, May 10). Health Disparities Overview. National Conference of State Legislatures. Retrieved June 14, 2022, from https://www.ncsl.org/research/health/health-disparities-overview.aspx#:~:text=Many%20factors%20contribute%20to%20health,language%20barriers%20and%20health%20behaviors.
Rural Health Disparities Overview. Rural Health Information Hub. (2019, April 22). Retrieved June 14, 2022, from https://www.ruralhealthinfo.org/topics/rural-health-disparities
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Evaluate Practice Performance Metrics for eConsult Programs: Measuring eConsult Patient Benefits
eConsults deliver so many patient benefits. Patients save money with fewer copays, less travel expenses and reduced time off work. Patient satisfaction improves when diagnosis and treatment are delivered quickly. Equal access to specialty care increases because social and geographic challenges related to care are reduced. Outcomes also improve when patients receive treatment fast, avoid expensive emergency care, and experience better care continuity.
eConsults Save Patients Money
Visiting a specialist is expensive. And not visiting the specialist can be catastrophic for the patient. The patient saves at least $120 per avoided referral — $40 per visit over the 3 visits typically needed to receive a diagnosis and treatment. Primary care accounts for only 5% of total healthcare costs. Specialty care contributes to 16.5% of healthcare costs. Treatment in the primary care setting avoids copays and care delays that increase costs.
The trick is to provide the right amount of specialty care in the right setting.
Healthcare Finance News reports that $200 billion, or 25% of our healthcare costs, are for unnecessary tests and treatments. This figure doesn’t include unnecessary emergency room visits, multiple visits to your clinic because a patient can’t get an appointment quickly or increased cost of care due to untreated conditions.
Let’s eliminate these unnecessary costs by consulting with an eConsult specialist to determine exactly what tests are needed and reduce duplicate tests at the ER or specialist’s office by avoiding these high-cost care settings whenever possible.
Copays aren’t the only cost to the patient that can impact access to specialty care. Will the patient need additional time off work, childcare, or travel a great distance to see a specialist? eConsults can minimize these costs as well.