While health information technology (HIT) is ever-changing, case managers should have an idea of how new (or improved) solutions might affect their practice. Kathleen Parry, RN, BSN, CCM, manager of complex case management at Kaiser Permanente of Washington, took the time to reflect on a new system and shared how this, or a similar platform, might affect the day-to-day work of case managers and their patients.
“Overall, it is daunting the number of HIT systems available,” Parry says. “There are multiple platforms for case management, depending on the arena that they work in.”
Parry learned an integrated health system that uses the Health Connect (Epic) platform to integrate the case management platform with the electronic medical record (EMR). Her case management department transitioned to this platform from a different one over the past year. She notes that while both technologies work well, the new platform offers case management activity visibility to the whole healthcare team.
“In our role at Kaiser, the integrated record assists in the entire team having visibility to the patient status and following through the transition of care,” Parry explains. This helps the care team provide “additional input for the patient to improve their goals of care.” This higher level of collaboration can improve the quality of care for patients as well as the relationship between members of the care team.
Case managers face many challenges when working with facilities that are on “different platforms with the inability to have access to these platforms,” Parry notes. Using the newer forms of HIT has been an overall positive experience for her, resulting in “overall process improvement for managing care of patients and assisting with transition over the continuum” as well as “streamlined processes and improved documentation.”
From the perspective of hospital systems, improved technology solutions in case management can result in significant gains, such as better visibility between hospital systems and outpatient delivery systems if they are using the same platform, explained Parry.
While these solutions indirectly result in increased quality of care for patients, Parry notes this care would be enhanced further “if there was improved visibility to their EMR to not duplicate care that has happened.”
As these technology solutions continue to evolve and progress, perhaps there will soon be solutions that help support the patient experience further and allow for more visibility for their EMR, especially as it can be accessed across providers, whether inpatient or outpatient.
While health information technology is ever-changing, case managers should have an idea of how new (or improved) solutions might affect their practice.You have reached your article limit for the month. Subscribe now to access this article plus other member-only content.
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