Combine your referral management platform with an eConsult solution to reduce patient wait times and the cost of care. Learn five ways our eConsults support value-based care by allowing primary care physicians, nurse practitioners or PAs to submit electronic requests for patient advice to our team of specialists to manage low-acuity patients.
#1 Help Patients Avoid Unnecessary Face-to-Face Specialty Visits
About 70% of eConsults can address what physicians typically send for a face-to-face specialty visit. As a web-based physician-to-physician consultation, there is no need for any particular technology or integration — the PCP orders the referral the same way they would traditionally order one. Or suppose the patient was to go face-to-face for a specialty consult with the provider using our referral nurse coordination, RNN service, and nurse navigators. In that case, our nurse will curate the eConsults by grabbing all of the data needed for the patient from the chart. Private health information is then sent to our specialist, who reviews the data and provides an evidence-based response on that patient’s best practice and management. Within four to six hours, the primary care provider receives a notification and can view the eConsult specialist’s recommendations.
The bottom line — for every specialty visit where we serve the patient using an eConsult and address issues through the primary care provider, we can fend off the need for three face-to-face visits. Also, once you gain specific knowledge from a specialist on a particular condition, you have the answer to the same question when it comes up again.
#2 Manage Your Patients in Practice and Prevent Network Leakage
Physician offices and clinics operate at a frenetic pace today. COVID-related staffing concerns mean that obtaining consults often further disrupt existing workflows. Primary care providers designed our platform to fit into your current workflow.
In addition, AristaMD developed a program where registered nurses can access remote desktops and curate eConsults. As a result, practices we’re working with save time by using referral coordinators to curate any consult. By utilizing our eConsults, PAs and nurse practitioners work to the top of their licenses and can broaden the scope of their practice.
Therefore, eConsults can support better patient management practices and prevent network leakage.
About 90% of the time, eConsults positively impact the care plan, and about 40% of the time, eConsults result in new diagnoses.
#3 Improve Patient Outcomes that Impact Quality Measures
An electronic consultation is a tool that helps you manage specialty care optimally. About 90% of the time, eConsults positively impact the care plan, and about 40% of the time, eConsults result in new diagnoses. Also, eConsults can be very impactful, saving both time and office resources while also negating the need for additional appointments -an especially valuable benefit for patients with chronic and long-term conditions. For those participating in an alternative payment model, eConsults allows physicians to keep members in their network. Holding a specialist or out-of-network practitioner accountable for care costs can be difficult or impossible. For instance, sometimes, the necessity of additional tests could be more questionable.
Managing costs is a tremendous advantage to the primary care provider, who can keep all care under their purview. After all, the goal is to keep our population healthy and in-network. Everyone benefits when costs are kept in check. eConsults level the playing field — they allow patients to get care through their primary care trusted provider expeditiously. There’s often no additional cost to the patient for the eConsult.
#4 Increase Patient Satisfaction Scores
CAHPS scores are an excellent way to provide better access to care and improve patient outcomes for their particular value-based care model. eConsults can improve CAHPS scores via timely appointments and swift communication of the care delivery plan for the patient.
Moreover, eConsults can help patients feel heard when they seek care to address their conditions. Also, eConsults for specialty care needs like medication management, adjuvant therapy, or wound care can be highly advantageous to patients with lower acuity.
#5 Provide Better Access to Care while Managing Social Determinants of Health
Social Determinants of Health (SDoH) are essential to consider when discussing inequalities in today’s healthcare system. Improving patient care by having access to that lower acuity, specialty care in real-time mitigates the potential for missed appointments, compliance issues, and follow-up coordination. Further, eConsults via telehealth visits can be life-changing for the elderly and unquestionably add to the efficient use of healthcare resources. Challenges the elderly face, like travel, anxiety, and unfamiliar surroundings are eliminated using eConsults. Gone are the backlog for specialist visits and the wait times associated with in-person appointments. eConsults allow patients to access specialized care at no additional cost conveniently and swiftly. eConsults, by their very nature, support value-based care models and improve health equity across demographics.