Bill Siwicki

In this special report, three IT experts describe technologies and strategies to boost quality improvement efforts and put patient safety at the center of the equation.

In their HIMSS20 Digital session, privacy policy experts Deven McGraw and Jodi Daniel offer a deeper look at digital patient access, the APIs that enable it – and the mistakes healthcare organizations make when providing medical records.

What’s more, 72-practice Community Care Physicians has sent around 776,000 COVID-related newsletters to patients, also reminding them of their telehealth appointments during the pandemic.

Patients were cancelling their non-COVID-19 appointments to avoid the virus. The medical group went from six to 1,500 daily telehealth visits to tend to regular care needs.

Near the hottest of COVID-19 hotspots, the health system helped its respiratory therapists by combining tele-ICU, EHR and remote patient-monitoring technologies.

Chinatown Service Center of Los Angeles converted 80% of acute in-person visits to telehealth in just weeks – and improved timely access to hospital records in the county by 75%.

The health system has experienced a 35% increase in organic traffic to its Find a Doctor search option – and has gained top search engine ranking and self-scheduling wins.

The system is designed to keep consumers away from hospitals if possible, to prevent the spread of the virus, and help overloaded caregivers.

Hospitals often implement new technologies, but remain wed to the old ways of doing things. In a recent HIMSS20 Digital presentation, two experts offered some perspective on effective change-management strategies.

The state’s many health systems put competitive concerns aside for the greater good during a pandemic, using IT to send patients to locations that could best serve them.