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Maintaining Quality Patient Intake in the Face of a Labor Crisis

January 18, 2022

Article

eHealth Company

Is your team struggling to properly prepare for new patients’ first appointments due to staffing shortages?

Not enough staff to obtain a complete medial history, organize the hundreds of pages of records for the clinical team, and import records, images, and pathology into your EMR?

The current shortage of entry-level employees in America continues to escalate. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the unemployment rate in December of 2021 was only 3.9 percent. Employment in health care occupations is projected to grow 16 percent from 2020 to 2030, much faster than the average for all occupations, adding about 2.6 million new jobs. Health care occupations are projected to add more jobs than any of the other occupational groups. So the shortages in staffing will continue for the foreseeable future. Additionally, the demand for medical care is projected to increase with the aging population of the country.

Not only do health care facilities lack the staff to accommodate the surge in new patients who are calling for appointments – they also need the resources to track down the patient records necessary for scheduling clinician visits or determining clinical trial criteria.

eHealth Technologies understands these challenges firsthand. We have experience supporting health care organizations and can expedite care for your patients. Below are three ways we’re partnering with clients to make an impact during this staffing crisis.

1. Handle new volume more efficiently with existing staff

eHealth Technologies has the capacity to absorb fluctuations in patient volume without the need to invest in and train new staff. Since record retrieval and organization are eHealth Technologies’ main areas of expertise, we can help facilitate new growth quickly and efficiently. eHealth Technologies’ data shows a reduction in facilities’ current time from referral to first appointment by up to 80%. In addition, our clients’ staff can request and manage medical records for patients 75% faster and obtain medical images 45% faster.

2. Faster access to critical patient data

eHealth Technologies partners with health care facilities top hospitals to increase their efficiency and eliminate the expense of onboarding new staff members. Prior to working with eHealth Technologies, most facilities  relied on staff, referring physicians, and patients to obtain records, images, and pathology slides. It often took several weeks for records to arrive by fax or postal mail – and then the records needed to be scanned and imported to the EMR before a patient could be qualified or scheduled. Even electronic records required manual review by staff to ensure completeness—and all too often, several requests needed to be made before a comprehensive set of patient reports was obtained. With support from eHealth Technologies, records, images, and pathology slides are typically available within 3-5 days and can be securely delivered directly to your EMR/PACS/Study database.

3. Rapid implementation process to meet clients’ needs

Our clients and their patients have always been our top priority. In these challenging staffing times, we understand the need to accelerate the implementation of our services to accommodate heavier volumes. In response, we have instituted a rapid implementation process to close the gaps that would otherwise need to be filled by new, untrained staff or by current staff already at maximum bandwidth.

We employ expertise gained through working with large academic medical facilities to assist with optimal workflows and best practice record retrieval. The insight that we provide on how the access and delivery of patient medical data impacts the operations of your department can be a game-changer. Our team is equipped and ready to be your partner in growth as we all move toward a new state of normal.

Every patient deserves faster access to care

Interested in seeing how our health-tech solutions can benefit your healthcare system? Request a demo today and one of our experts will be in touch to show you our technology in action.