Piccione recently described her user experience with the platform\u2019s application that ICP\u2019s physicians and care managers use the most: the Orion Health clinical application, dubbed \u201cCareConnect\u201d within the ICP network.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe launched CareConnect in 2014,\u201d said Piccione, \u201cto more effectively manage patient data coming from several sources, like laboratory reports, radiology reports, hospital data, and consultant notes.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Piccione\u2019s learning curve was short. She quickly began using CareConnect for day-to-day clinical tasks alongside her practice\u2019s EMR, which provides detailed information collected during a patient\u2019s previous office visit but is often missing the vital information that\u2019s generated from encounters which occur outside<\/em> of Piccione\u2019s office (e.g., specialist, ER, and inpatient visits).<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cBut that missing data,\u201d said Piccione, \u201cis always<\/em> available to me in CareConnect. So not only am I constantly kept abreast of where my patient has been, who they\u2019ve seen, and what their specialists have ordered, but I can also put the information that I find relevant into my<\/em>patient chart. Whenever a patient is hospitalised, they generate a lot <\/em>of data, yet I don’t necessarily need all<\/em> of that data. CareConnect gives me the ability to scan through the data quickly and see what\u2019s pertinent and what I want in the chart. More importantly, in the event that, in the future, I do<\/em> need something from that original data set, I can quickly find it in an easily accessible place.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Seamless accessibility is just the beginning of the conveniences that CareConnect offers Piccione. The portal\u2019s user-defined notification system, which gives each care giver the ability to specify the alerts they wish to receive, allows Piccione to review her patients\u2019 lab, pathology, and radiology results as soon as they\u2019re made available. She is also alerted to her patients\u2019 hospital admissions and discharges via secure text messages pushed directly to her phone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWhen I log into the portal on Monday morning,\u201d said Piccione, \u201cI may be met with a message that Mr. Smith\u2019s lab results are now available. When I\u2019m home on the weekend, I might receive a text message that Mrs. Jones has been admitted to the ER. Either way, I\u2019m always aware of what\u2019s happening with my patients.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n While that may sound like a sure-fire recipe for notification fatigue, it\u2019s proven not to be.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIt\u2019s not an issue,\u201d said Piccione, \u201cbecause I can set up the alerts however I want them\u2014which notifications I want and under what circumstances. This is particularly useful for my practice\u2019s care coordinators, who manage the patient\u2019s care across all of their specialists and throughout the inpatient and outpatient experience.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n One of the struggles Piccione dealt with prior to using CareConnect was that, as a PCP, she wasn\u2019t always notified when one of her patients was admitted to the hospital. She wasn\u2019t always apprised when they were discharged<\/em>, either.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIt\u2019s important to make contact with the patient right after discharge,\u201d Piccione said, \u201cand ensure that they\u2019re scheduled to visit the PCP\u2019s office for follow-up. We need to wrap up the hospitalisation by making sure that the patient and care givers understand the diagnoses and medications as well as how the care plan may have changed. We also need to confirm they are scheduled with the appropriate specialists for follow up and that they understand their timeline for recovery. CareConnect helps ensure that we\u2014all of their providers\u2014have the data we need to help the patient make a smooth transition.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n CareConnect also empowers clinicians and administrators to have total control of how the patient information is presented to the user on the patient-summary screen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI\u2019ve adjusted my CareConnect settings so that when I log into CareConnect, the first thing I see is the patient\u2019s encounter list,\u201d said Piccione. \u201cAt the start of a visit, that’s what\u2019s most important to me. The encounter list gives me a quick snapshot\u2014I can see where they’ve been and who they’ve seen. And I can see specific details, too, like when they last visited the radiology department, were hospitalised, or were admitted to the ER.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Piccione described how this is particularly helpful with patients who are new to her practice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cYou don’t have any of their records yet,\u201d she said. \u201cBut with CareConnect, you can quickly get up to speed. I can see every lab test and every radiology result available, as well as consult notes, admission\/discharge notes, and other transcribed documents.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n To illustrate further, Piccione described a recent new-patient encounter with a man who was complaining about a tingling in his hands and feet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThat\u2019s a very large differential diagnosis,\u201d she said. \u201cThere are many reasons why the tingling could be happening. One thing I needed to know is whether he had a recent metabolic work-up. Are we looking at his thyroid? Are we looking at his sugar levels? Does he have anemia? By looking at CareConnect\u2019s timeline view, I could instantly see which labs had been ordered, who had ordered them, and when the labs had been completed.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n And in an instant, Piccione was able to view the results<\/em> of those tests.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThat was super helpful,\u201d she said. \u201cI immediately knew everything about his lab work and what I would need to do to complete his work-up. I could use the lab work that resulted from his oncology encounter to compare to the new lab work I had planned to order, but more importantly, I was able to facilitate that work-up for him without repeating any tests.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n This level of functionality is helpful not only when treating new patients, but also when treating poly-pharmacy patients with complex medical conditions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cPatients who have multiple specialists,\u201d said Piccione, \u201care, quite frequently, having the same tests repeated unnecessarily. Although nephrologists and cardiologists may have different reasons for ordering certain tests, many of these tests overlap. CareConnect puts all of that information in one place and thus helps to avoid duplication of testing. It also helps me direct my interview with the patient. If I see that they\u2019ve met with someone in oncology since I saw them last, I can ask them to tell me about that visit.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Piccione gave another example.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cSay I have a patient who says they\u2019ve met with their cardiologist, and the cardiologist told them that their haemoglobin results were low, and that I, as the PCP, need to recheck it,\u201d she said. \u201cUnfortunately, I may not have been forwarded the results the cardiologist is talking about. But with CareConnect, those results are right there in the system, just waiting to be reviewed.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The results are displayed in CareConnect\u2019s document tree, a graphical representation of various documents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThere are some patients who have over 200 laboratory results. There are some who have had multiple CT scans,\u201d said Piccione. \u201cWith the document tree\u2019s search function, I can search by provider, date, or test type, which I think is very helpful. CareConnect really helps you hone in on what you’re looking for and helps you find it easily. It doesn\u2019t force you to scroll through a long list.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n As a CareConnect power-user, Piccione is looking forward to the technology evolving, and has even identified features she\u2019d like to see in future updates.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI’m already so happy to be able to have all of my patient data in one spot. I find CareConnect a lot easier to navigate than our own EMR. For example, if I’m at home or I’m on call, and I need to get patient information for some reason, it’s much easier for me to log into CareConnect, which is a web-based system, as opposed to logging into my practice\u2019s VPN and navigating through our clinic\u2019s server to access our EMR,\u201d said Piccione.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cBut I cannot wait for the day that the data will speak<\/em> to me,\u201d she said. \u201cRight now, I’m searching<\/em> the data. But I’m really looking forward to a time when the system is actively talking to me and saying, \u2018Dr. Piccione, here are 60 patients who have diabetes but haven\u2019t been given the PPSV23 vaccine they\u2019re due for.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Piccione believes that that functionality will make it easier to proactively reach out to patients who have become eligible for age-specific screening exams or treatments, like mammograms, colonoscopies, and immunisations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cAdditionally, I cannot wait until we have the ability to manage patients remotely,\u201d Piccione said. \u201cTake, for example, a patient who has congestive heart failure (CHF). I have no way of knowing that they\u2019re in failure until they’re in failure in my office<\/em>\u2014maybe they’re short of breath or their legs are very swollen. I would have liked to have known, about ten days prior to their visit, that their weight had started to creep up a little bit. I am looking forward to a time when a patient can stand on a scale at home and transmit their numbers to CareConnect, which would then alert me that their weight has increased. It\u2019s at this <\/em>point that it would be ideal to intervene. I could tell them to increase their Lasix a little bit or to back off on the salt, and I could potentially help them avoid a dangerous exacerbation. Diabetics, asthmatics, CHF patients, and countless others with chronic conditions could really benefit from that level of functionality.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n After that look ahead, Piccione took a look back and reviewed her experience with Orion Health\u2019s technology. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI’ve really enjoyed working with Orion Health,\u201d Piccione said. \u201cIt\u2019s been a very educational experience. I think that people in IT don’t realise how technologically unsavvy physicians generally are, but Orion Health provides a very user-friendly, intuitive platform that even the least tech-savvy provider can easily use.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Piccione explained how in her personal life, she\u2019s long been comfortable relying on technology, with her phone alerting her if she\u2019s late for a meeting before she even knows she has<\/em> that meeting, and with it warning her about the traffic that she\u2019s going to encounter on her way to that meeting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But after her experience with Orion Health, Piccione has now become comfortable relying on technology in her professional life, too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cBefore 2014, when you came to my office to see me, the only medical data I had for you was that which I, myself, had put in your chart. Orion Health has changed all of that\u2014now I have access to your medical data regardless of whether I was involved in a particular medical event or not. I\u2019ve found that working with Orion Health has been not only helpful on a clinical level, but also on an educational level. The experience has opened my eyes to what technology has to offer me as a healthcare professional, and I am looking forward to translating that to better-coordinated, superior-quality patient care.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Piccione recently described her user experience with the platform\u2019s application that ICP\u2019s physicians and care managers use the most: the Orion Health clinical application, dubbed \u201cCareConnect\u201d within the ICP network. \u201cWe launched CareConnect in 2014,\u201d said Piccione, \u201cto more effectively manage patient data coming from several sources, like laboratory reports, radiology reports, hospital data, and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":35,"featured_media":1639,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"region":[23],"class_list":["post-1634","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blog","region-global"],"yoast_head":"\nA More Complete and Customisable Clinical View<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Navigating Patient Histories with Greater Speed<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Looking Ahead to Intelligent, Predictive Features<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Embracing Technology for Better Patient Care<\/h2>\n\n\n\n