eHealth Technologies Blog: Jeff Markin, CEO, eHealth Technologies
As we close 2019, I am proud to reflect on the partnership that eHealth Technologies has with transplant centers around the country. While we work with multiple specialties in many facilities, transplant centers make up about half of our client relationships. We continue to see growth in the numbers of centers that have placed their trust in our team – including three new centers in the in the second half of this year.
How do transplant centers benefit from working with eHealth Technologies? While there are many, our clients tell us that the top reasons are that we are able to help them streamline operations and improve patient care.
The patient experience is paramount.
Transplant patients are by their nature very sick, typically managing multiple medical issues, appointments, medications, insurance issues – the list goes on and on. Giving the patient and their caregivers the responsibility of gathering and organizing their medical records and diagnostic images is an additional burden that can be a significant and unnecessary challenge. By working with our team to retrieve medical records for referred patients transplant organizations can provide a better experience for patients. It’s one less thing for the patient, and the care team, to worry about.
Transplant patients have many records in many locations.
Patients in need of a transplant have often received care for their medical issues for many years prior to progressing to the point of needing a transplant. The transplant care team needs access to those medical records and images for evaluation prior to listing the patient for transplant. Tracking down the myriad of reports and imaging studies spanning many years at different doctor’s offices and hospitals is a time-consuming challenge. eHealth Technologies takes the lead in retrieving and organizing these records and images – giving the care team more time to focus on patient care and less time on paperwork.
So many records, so little time.
Clinical teams are tasked with reviewing hundreds of pages of reports for each referred transplant patient. Reviewing records to get the information that is needed to prepare for an initial consult and eventually listing the patient for a transplant is time consuming. Being able to organize those hundreds of pages into a searchable document, with keywords highlighted and bookmarked, saves time and frustration as clinicians do this important work.
Time is of the essence to get a patient listed for a transplant.
We have found great success with several centers using our “essentials records” approach. By collecting medical records and images in multiple phases, transplant centers are able to expedite scheduling an initial consult with those critical few records that allow for an initial assessment. Then, if the patient is a candidate for a transplant, additional reports and medical images can be collected to prepare for the next phase of the process. Rethinking the patient intake process allows centers to schedule initial consults more quickly – which can shorten the overall “referral to listing” time and ultimately lead to more positive outcomes for the patient.
Customized delivery of records and images into the EMR.
We have found that the clinical teams accessing the records and images we’ve collected and organized directly within their EMR is a critical step to truly streamline workflows. eHealth Technologies is able to integrate and deliver records and images directly into our client’s EMR system – including those very specialized transplant-specific EMRs – creating greater satisfaction and efficiency for clinical teams. We understand that transplant centers can work very differently, so we align with center clinicians to provide a customized electronic delivery approach that works best for their department’s needs.
The impact that our company has on improving the care for thousands of transplant patients across the country is astounding. Patients can be scheduled quicker, get listed for transplants faster, and have a better experience as they go through this challenging time in their lives. There is nothing more rewarding for me and my team than that. I invite you to watch this short video featuring several of our team members talking about “the best of their job” at eHealth Technologies.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R0ASeqgX-YI
