As technology advances, opportunities abound for hospitals to create unbreakable bonds with their local physicians. By Frank Pecaitis, VP Enterprise Imaging Sales, Agfa HealthCare
As technology advances, opportunities abound for hospitals to create unbreakable bonds with their local physicians.
By Frank Pecaitis, VP Enterprise Imaging Sales, Agfa HealthCare
The referring physician – whether a primary care doctor or a medical specialist – is a key constituent of every hospital. Strong relationships with area physicians are not only important in ensuring optimal patient care (and reducing patient recidivism), but “physician loyalists” provide hospitals with reliable sources of potential revenue. In fact, according to a recent survey by national physician search firm Merritt Hawkins, a single physician generates in excess of $1.4 million dollars in net revenue annually for a hospital.
It is no wonder hospitals go to great lengths to develop and nurture relationships with potential physician referral sources in order to build revenue and remain competitive.
Against this backdrop – and to counter the constant threat of “referral leakage” –hospitals are adopting a variety of strategies and tools to remain engaged with their referral sources and position the hospital as a true care partner. Forward-thinking hospital executives are leveraging advances in technology to make it cheaper, easier, faster and more convenient for physicians to refer patients, while remaining an integral part of the care process. Central to this effort is the electronic health record (EHR).
It is difficult to deny the overwhelmingly positive impact the EHR has had on patient care. True, the EHR will never cure a disease or mend a broken bone, but the ability for a physician to have access to a patient’s complete medical history at the touch of a button has empowered physicians to make more informed and efficient medical decisions, thereby improving the delivery of care.
Additionally, and equally important, the EHR is enabling a new level of connectivity among physicians inside and outside of a hospital’s walls. Data can now be easily transferred among a team of clinicians, allowing all involved to have equal input in the treatment regimen.
However, until recently, only observational and diagnostic data such as blood pressure, presenting symptoms, and medical history were readily accessible via a patient’s medical record. Medical images such as CT scans, x-rays, ultrasounds – as well as digital images documenting wounds, surgery, ophthalmology, and dermatology – were not part of the EHR equation. This absence of critical information creates “blind spots” in the ability for physicians to get a complete picture of the patient’s condition. Moreover, the inability to share medical images with a patient’s primary care physician often left the “trusted doctor” on the outside looking in.
The good news for hospitals and referring physicians is technology has progressed to the point where medical images can now be accessed across an entire hospital enterprise, both inside and outside the hospital walls, via the EHR.
Commonly referred to as enterprise imaging, this capability is serving to transform how physicians access and share clinically relevant images and, in turn, their ability to more efficiently and effectively treat patients. What was once the domain of a hospital’s radiology or cardiology department is now open to all clinicians, including the family doctor.
For hospitals, the ability to enable such imaging access to referring physicians can be a significant competitive differentiator. It demonstrates the hospital is striving to be a center of medical excellence by integrating technologies that enhance the care process.
There is no better example of this than Cleveland Clinic. Recognized as one of the country’s most forward-thinking hospitals, Cleveland Clinic is a fully integrated health system comprised of 1,440 beds at its main campus and more than 4,450 total beds throughout its system of family health centers, community hospitals, and regional and international hospitals.
Like any hospital, Cleveland Clinic has close ties to its referring physicians and recognizes patient care is a collaborative effort. With this in mind, Cleveland Clinic recently initiated its MyPractice Community program, an electronic medical record system that allows physicians in private practice access to medical images generated in any participating Cleveland Clinic imaging facility. This innovative service redefines the electronic medical record by making every medical record – including images, regardless of capture modality – available to the clinician inside the EMR, at the point of care.
The result is an improved continuum of care for the patient and for all physicians who participate in the treatment program. If a physician goes from an inpatient to an outpatient setting, he or she can access the EHR in either location without the need to “lug around” paper charts, diagnostic image prints, or CDs.
Additionally, newly developed, mobile-based imaging viewers can enable patients to access, view and create clinically relevant images – “medical selfies” – which can then be uploaded to the EHR. A patient being treated for a diabetic foot ulcer, for example, now has the ability to produce and share relevant wound images within a highly secure application, enabling all physicians – including the primary care doctor – to monitor the treatment progress and remotely view images to determine if a visit to the examination room is warranted.
What does this all mean for the hospital executive who must lead in today’s increasingly complex and challenging hospital economic environment? How can visual healthcare improve the hospital’s ability to maximize the full value of clinical services and ensure revenue entitlement?
By creating an uninterrupted, information-rich workflow environment in which technology-based systems enable ALL clinicians to be connected and equal players in a patient’s treatment, hospitals are able to build nearly unbreakable bonds with their referring physicians, helping to ensure a steady stream of patients through their doors.
About the author
Frank Pecaitis is Agfa HealthCare’s Vice President Enterprise Imaging Sales. Frank is responsible for the company’s North American commercial initiatives for Agfa HealthCare’s enterprise imaging information management system.