eConsults are a key clinical innovation that can assist in addressing inequities in access to specialty care. One of the critical aspects where eConsults have significantly elevated care impact is improving patient outcomes. Through eConsults, healthcare providers can collaborate more efficiently, leading to faster and more accurate diagnoses, timely treatment interventions, and better management of chronic conditions. This results in improved patient health outcomes, reduced hospital readmissions, and enhanced quality of life.
Common Challenges to Achieve Clinical Quality Goals: Containment
Containment in healthcare involves equipping providers with the appropriate recommendations to effectively manage a patient’s care within their practice, without the need for unnecessary referrals or consultations outside of the practice. This is particularly important in ensuring efficient resource utilization and reducing healthcare costs while maintaining high-quality care.
Evaluate Practice Performance Metrics for eConsult Programs: Measuring Practice Cost Savings
eConsults drive practice cost savings for your practices by replacing referrals, eliminating unnecessary testing, reducing emergency room visits and avoiding hospital readmissions. An eConsult that avoids a specialty referral results in 3 avoided specialty visits, which is the average number of appointments needed to diagnose and treat a patient. Each specialty visit costs approximately $300. The avoided visit savings to an at-risk practice is $900.
Evaluate Practice Performance Metrics for eConsult Programs: Measuring Clinical Quality
Multiple studies have shown that improved access to specialty advice and preventative care decreases the incidence of disease and patient mortality, resulting in improved clinical quality. By addressing health problems before they require emergency intervention, both patients and the health system save money and see better outcomes.
Evaluate Practice Performance Metrics for eConsult Programs: Measuring eConsult Patient Benefits
eConsults patient benefits include cost savings, less travel, reduced time off work, faster diagnosis and treatment, and improved outcomes.
Specialist eConsults Enable Faster Diagnosis and Treatment
Specialist eConsults allow providers to offer faster treatment, avoid contraindications, and reduce the burden of care for patients.
Evaluate Practice Performance Metrics for eConsult Programs: Measuring Patient Access to Specialty Care
To increase patient access to specialty care, consider which specialties that have long appointment wait times, higher costs, conditions easily manage by the PCP, or do not require a face-to-face specialist visit.
Measuring Practice Success and Patient Care: eConsults Practice Performance & Cost Savings
eConsults deliver practice performance improvements and cost savings by replacing referrals, reducing unnecessary testing, limiting emergency visits, avoiding hospital readmissions and offering medication management.
Increasing PCP Adoption of Value-Based Care Strategies
An adopter of value-based care strategies, MemorialCare’s eConsult program delivers timely care, downstream cost savings and PCP involvement in patient care. specialist care, driving downstream cost savings and increasing PCP involvement in patient care. Anne LaNova, Executive Director of Digital Consumer Experience, discusses how EHR integration and financial incentives for PCPs contributed to the program’s success.
Evaluate Practice Performance Metrics for eConsult Programs: Measuring Provider Adoption
Practice performance metrics are in focus whenever a new tool is introduced to improve patient care. In this series, we’ll focus on practice success and patient care when adopting or maintaining an eConsult program. Many of these strategies apply to increasing the adoption of any new technology or program.