Parkview Health gets 70% of patients onto Epic portal, home of its telehealth programs – TechToday

Fort Wayne, Ind.-based Parkview Health System has incorporated its telemedicine programs into a broader digital health strategy aimed at meeting patients wherever they need care.

THE PROBLEM

Before the pandemic, Parkview Health had many of these technologies in place, but only in small pilot areas because the ability to gain widespread adoption by providers and patients was hampered by numerous insurance limitations.

The pandemic helped bring telemedicine to the forefront of care in nearly every health system, first out of necessity and then out of a realization that many patients could be cared for remotely.

“With adoption barriers overcome and payers accepting the method of care, telemedicine is now a standard of care and a retention tool in a competitive patient market,” said Maximilian Maile, senior vice president of digital health from Parkview Health System.

“To deliver our digital health solutions, we have a number of key suppliers and partners that we work with,” he continued. “But perhaps none is more important than our electronic health record, as it serves as the backbone of our communications between providers and patients.”

Parkview Health made strategic moves in 2012 to implement and integrate Epic as an EHR for all hospitals and providers. This move has made it possible to unify the organization throughout implementation and capabilities.

“This unification cannot be emphasized enough, as it allows us to implement providers that can be leveraged across the healthcare system, rather than purchasing multiple providers for the same end goal,” Maile explained.

“In addition, we used other key partners to drive some of the patient experiences,” he continued. “While Epic is our key platform for delivering video visits or the patient portal, we also have Veta Health to carry out some of our home hospital and remote patient monitoring initiatives. Veta Health has been a great partner to accompany our organization and develop some of the tools we need for patient and device engagement.”

Best Buy has played a key role in selling home devices, he added. If patients want to purchase a scale, blood pressure cuff or other home item, Parkview Health has a curated site with Best Buy that allows patients to purchase devices that have been reviewed by Parkview’s doctors and digital health staff .

“This leverages the core strengths of both organizations, as Best Buy can provide robust e-commerce solutions and Parkview can focus on providing care,” Maile said. “Technology will continue to help the healthcare industry evolve models of patient care at home.

“There are now many ways to connect with patients and deliver care in a convenient way,” he continued. “Digital health not only provides ways to keep the patient engaged in care, but can provide transparency about care through shared notes, can enable better rural care, and can provide solutions for those who may struggle with transport or other social problems. determinants that would normally pose barriers”.

PROPOSAL

Before the development of digital health and the widespread use of video visits, there were significant challenges in receiving specialist care in rural hospitals. Parkview Health has two large metropolitan sites and several community hospitals. Many specialties and sub-specialties are only available in metro locations.

“This is both a challenge from the point of view of the patient experience, driving in the city, which increases stress and time burdens for the patient, but also from the point of view of the health system, which transferred patients fill the beds simply because there is no consultation. it can be provided at the community location,” Maile explained.

“In 2016 we introduced video visits to several community hospitals, for cardiology and psychiatric consultations,” he continued. “Additional specialties followed, as the concept of being able to provide the same quality care was demonstrated and the savings in time and transfers to the provider were recognized.

Video visits were also allowed by payers if a patient came to the site at a specific location, but this proved cumbersome and not desired by patients. When the COVID-19 pandemic hit and payers allowed patients to stay at home, the use of video visits became much more widespread.

“For several months, it became one of the few ways to get care as the country was encouraged to stay at home,” Maile recalled. “Parkview Health was able to retain nearly 70% of our standard care patient visits by using video services within our EHR and patient portal, even when physical offices were closed.

“Once again, this served as a pilot opportunity to show that digital health can provide meaningful interactions and deliver high-quality outcomes without the need to be face-to-face,” he said.

MARKET

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SUM UP THE CHALLENGE

One of the key pieces of technology that Parkview Health leveraged to address the challenges was its MyChart patient portal.

“Our digital health team had been developing the patient portal for several years, but constant refinement and evolution of the product is needed to continue to make it meaningful,” said Maile. “Continuously adding features is incredibly important to ensure that it meets patients’ needs and involves them in their health decisions.

“Since we’ve had MyChart up and running for many years and have piloted video and communications technologies within this portal, we strongly encourage all of our patients to use it as their primary communication tool for their records and information. hello,” he continued. “This focused approach has allowed us to more than double our adoption rates over the past three years, going from approximately 28% to nearly 70% of our patients actively using the portal over the past year.”

Again, back to the engagement side, Parkview Health now sees patients log into their accounts an average of seven times a month. Staff love to see this growth because it strengthens their overall ability to communicate effectively.

“With a strong patient portal, we can leverage other benefits that digital health can provide, with scalability and cost savings,” Maile noted. “For example, we recently made available all our paperwork and registration work before the visit.

“This allows patients to complete an eCheck-in up to several days before the visit from the comfort of their own home,” he continued. “By the time they get to the office, all the paperwork is already completed, and the office staff saves an average of three minutes per patient from checking them in.”

This is a significant amount of time over thousands of transactions across many offices.

“Another example of savings with the patient portal is the ability to promote healthcare reminders to patients and allow them to schedule appointments without ever having to speak to someone,” Maile said. “Not only does this save the healthcare system from expanding call services, but it also allows the patient to seamlessly create an appointment with a schedule that works for them.”

RESULTS

Maile spoke about the adoption of the patient portal, which he believes is an important result achieved. Ability to grow that allows for strong adoption in other initiatives, such as eCheck-in, Open Notes, online scheduling options, and features such as remote line queues.

“Having nearly seven out of 10 of our patients using the portal provides an economy of scale to implement the other features and quickly gain traction or savings,” Maile explained. “We also have a large base of patients who are engaged with their care and can communicate with us, in the form of surveys or other feedback mechanisms. This helps us refine and improve initiatives.

“Parkview launched a Hospital at Home initiative last fall, and that couldn’t have been done without incredible teams using incredible technologies,” he added. “This program allows patients to be admitted as inpatients, in their own homes, while still receiving inpatient services such as oxygen, IVs and nursing rounding.”

Patients can connect via video with a doctor, since a nurse is in the home, and have their vitals monitored remotely. It took multiple teams to make this technology come together, and it was a major effort.

“However, the result is that patients can relax and recover at home, which has been shown to provide better recovery times and outcomes,” Maile said. “Our home health team is leading this effort.”

ADVICE FOR OTHERS

Maile has two recommendations for colleagues navigating digital health or telemedicine initiatives.

“The first thing is to constantly evaluate your solutions, even those that are in place and working well, over a period of two to three years,” he advised. “With the pace of technology, there are so many new options every couple of years that you have to be vigilant to make sure you’re incorporating the right solutions to meet the right needs.

“We try to look at this through a lens of ‘1,000 day trips,'” he continued. “Do we have the right solution for the next 1,000 days? Do we foresee a different solution or a lower cost solution in 1,000 days? Sometimes a difficult part of that process is a conversion from something that worked to get you here to a new product that will get you where you need to be.”

Maile’s second recommendation is to constantly look at the scale of a project.

“A major benefit of digital health, and technology in general, is the overall scale at which you can grow,” he said. “Once a technology is implemented, there are very few limitations to expanding it. There are many things to consider in this approach, including the right care environment, the right levels of patient engagement, and the right quality outcomes.

“But if they can be aligned and you can leverage your initial investment to a larger audience, it will help maximize overall ROI,” he continued. “Right now, all health systems need to take full advantage of these tools and make sure they’re investing in the right solutions over the next two to three years.”

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