eConsults: Transform PCP Quality & Care
2021 Virtual Telehealth Conference
During our first virtual telehealth conference, industry experts shared their experiences with eConsults. Watch the videos below to learn more about how eConsults lower the cost of care, improve patient outcomes, and add revenue to the bottom-line at primary care practices across the county.
The Future of Knowledge Management is Digitally Enabled Patient Care
Robert Groves, MD
Executive Vice President & Chief Medical Officer, Banner | Aetna
Quality and Stewardship in Healthcare
Kevin Ronan, MD
Pediatrician and Senior Manager of Compliance/Risk Management, Vista Community Clinic
Optimize eConsult Requests to Maximize the Benefits for Patients and Your Practice
Cindy Craddock, RN
Manger of Referral Nurse Navigators, AristaMD
Managing the Evolving Care Needs of Patients Affected by COVID
Ed Cladera, MD, Internal Medicine Physician & Medical Director, Arista|MD
Mary Ellis, MD, Pulmonary Disease & Critical Care Physician, Associate Professor, Medical College of Wisconsin, & eConsult Specialist, Arista|MD
Robert Carpenter, DO, FACP, Infectious Disease Specialist, Naval Hospital Camp Pendleton & eConsult Specialist, Arista|MD
Expanding Practice Scope, Quality of Care and Patient Satisfaction with eConsults
John ‘Fred’ Thomas, PhD, MSSW
Director of Telemedicine, Children’s Hospital Colorado & Executive Director, Peer Mentored Care Collaborative, University of Colorado School of Medicine
Never Waste a Crisis: The Imperative to Reinvent Healthcare After Covid-19
Shantanu Nundy, MD
Chief Medical Officer for Accolade and author of Care After Covid
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The Future of Knowledge Management is Digitally Enabled Patient Care
Robert Groves, MD
Executive Vice President & Chief Medical Officer, Banner | Aetna
An impressive amount of innovation occurred over the last 18 months to enable patients to get care in the midst of hospital-wide shutdowns and clinic restrictions that limited access to in-person care. As if overnight, we saw the health system shift to 80%+ of their visits being handled virtually, ushering in a new era of digital health and patient management. The pandemic also placed a spotlight on inefficient knowledge management; especially on the widespread problem of inefficient methods to access specialist expertise in a timely, effective fashion. For decades, patients requiring the input of specialists to their care were required to travel (often hours); wait (often for months); and spend (childcare, travel, out-of-pocket copays) to access that knowledge. With a new perspective on the many avenues available to deliver care, we now see that this undue patient burden does not need to continue.
Today, while specialists are often located in large metropolitan areas – far from the patients that need them most – digitally-enabled care gives providers the opportunity to tap into the knowledge of specialists across the county, from the comfort of their office. Using eConsults, or distant site telehealth, these same providers can better diagnose patients, optimize treatment plans, and accelerate care. For patients, this means avoiding unnecessary travel, long referral wait times and additional copays. We now have the power to overcome this knowledge gap and long-standing challenge that limits healthcare equality, efficiency, and sustainability.
An impressive amount of innovation was deployed to diagnose, treat, and prevent the spread of COVID-19. However, long-standing challenges related to healthcare equality, efficiency and sustainability remain. In the wake of this crisis, healthcare organizations, and their staff, can transform patient care by leveraging technology. In the past, connecting primary care providers and their patients with specialist care was thwarted by time, distance, and cost. Specialists are often located in large metropolitan areas – far from the patients that need them most.
Quality and Stewardship in Healthcare
Kevin Ronan, MD
Pediatrician and Senior Manager of Compliance/Risk Management, Vista Community Clinic
Public payers, and increasingly private payers, are linking reimbursement to achievement of quality outcomes, with ever more complex incentive and penalty programs. Drawing from his success in containing costs and maximizing performance using innovative care collaborations, including consults, Dr. Kevin Ronan will discuss how eConsults can improve care quality and stewardship in healthcare.
Optimize eConsult Requests to Maximize the Benefits for Patients and Your Practice
Cindy Craddock, RN
Manager of Referral Nurse Navigators, Arista|MD
To improve patient care and grow practice revenue, knowing why, when, and which patient referrals can be handled by an eConsult is critical. Provider-to-specialist consults are available in more than 70 specialties – from allergists to urologists and everything in between. Often, you and your referral coordinators aren’t familiar with the breadth of care that eConsults can provide, which delays patient care, damages practice quality metrics, and diminishes the number of services the practice can offer.
During this session, Cindy Craddock, RN, will shed light on the referral review process, provide examples of how virtual telehealth delivers patient treatment plans for everyday and less common conditions, and how eConsults improve patient care as well as your practice.
Managing the Evolving Care Needs of Patients Affected by COVID
Ed Cladera, MD, Internal Medicine Physician & Medical Director, Arista|MD
Mary Ellis, MD, Pulmonary Disease & Critical Care Physician, Associate Professor, Medical College of Wisconsin, & eConsult Specialist, Arista|MD
Robert Carpenter, DO, FACP, Infectious Disease Specialist, Naval Hospital Camp Pendleton & eConsult Specialist, Arista|MD
Primary Care Providers (PCPs) are challenged with a growing number of patients that require follow-up care after recovering from COVID-19. The Journal of the American Medical Association estimates that 10% of COVID-19 patients become long-haulers – patients whose symptoms can last months. In some patients, the virus causes damage to the lungs, heart, and brain, which increases the risk of long-term health problems.
eConsults, unlike many other virtual telehealth solutions, can help PCPs manage the treatment of both long-haulers and patients with permanent health problems as a result of contracting the coronavirus. During this session, a panel of telehealth specialists will discuss the:
- Symptoms submitted for eConsult during the peak of virus transmission.
- Conditions these physicians expect to consult about post-COVID.
- Treatment options available to patients requiring ongoing care.
Expanding Practice Scope, Quality of Care and Patient Satisfaction with Virtual Telehealth
John ‘Fred’ Thomas, PhD, MSSW
Director of Telemedicine, Children’s Hospital Colorado & Executive Director, Peer Mentored Care Collaborative, University of Colorado School of Medicine
The Peer Mentored Care Collaborative at the University of Colorado is focused on increasing access, reducing costs, improving outcomes, and boosting patient and provider satisfaction. The collaborative launched an eConsult program designed to connect rural providers in Colorado with specialists who provide point-of-care decision support. This pilot program, at a single Federally Qualified Health Center (FQHC), efficiently and successfully reduced the time and cost of specialist visits for patients in rural communities, while enhancing the care provided to these patients. During this presentation, you will learn how this pilot program set the stage to improve care for patients across the state.
Never Waste a Crisis: The Imperative to Reinvent Healthcare After Covid-19
Shantanu Nundy, MD
Chief Medical Officer for Accolade and author of Care After Covid
To succeed in the post-pandemic world, all of us―patients, caregivers, providers, employers, investors, technologists, and policymakers―need to understand the new healthcare landscape and change our strategies and behaviors accordingly.
In his book, Care After Covid, Dr. Nundy shows all stakeholders in the healthcare ecosystem exactly what needs to change and, more importantly, how to do it. To wrap-up a day of knowledge sharing, practicing physician, business leader and Chief Medical Officer of Accolade, Dr. Nundy will highlight components of his plan to transform healthcare along three dimensions: distributed, digitally enabled, and decentralized healthcare.