How to Launch an eConsult Program – Successfully
AristaMD is here to help you launch a successful eConsult program.
The biggest challenge is getting your doctors excited about using this new technology. A successful eConsult launch educates and engages physicians on the benefits to them and their patients.
Doctors want to provide the best care for their patients. PCPs tell the specialist the problem and get advice from a board-certified specialist. Patients avoid co-pays and multiple appointments and receive specialty care directly from their PCP.
Care continuity is a challenge with most referrals; eConsults avoid miscommunication about the patient’s treatment plan. The specialist advice is in writing and attached to the patient’s chart.
Get your providers up and running fast with a little extra cash when they request an eConsult.
Reach your value-based care goals with an eConsult program that works for your PCPs.
Measuring Practice Cost Savings for Your eConsult Program
In this blog, we will focus on cost savings delivered from eConsult program. Let’s start by reviewing a few challenges to effective care and practice success.
Primary care providers lack the tools and time to help patients navigate care. The average PCP sees between 10-20 patients per day.1 If you own your practice, you likely see more than 20 patients daily. 2 Patient care is their goal. Adding new technology adds to their workload.
At the same time, not getting specialist advice for the patient is creating additional work for PCPs. More than 40% of referrals never get scheduled. That means more work for the PCP as patients boomerang back to the primary care setting with the same untreated condition.
$200 billion, or 25% of our healthcare costs, are for unnecessary tests and treatments. This figure doesn’t include unnecessary emergency room visits, multiple visits to your clinic because a patient can’t get an appointment quickly or increased cost of care due to untreated conditions. After all, your patients never made that specialist appointment.
How do eConsults solve these challenges? eConsults are proven to reduce specialty care costs for patients, providers and payers. eConsults also support value-based care in tangible and practical ways. They create a path to faster diagnosis and treatment, improve or eliminate wait times for specialists’ visits, increase access to sub-specialties, and minimize worsened health outcomes resulting from delayed patient care. At-risk practices see tremendous cost savings by eliminating unnecessary specialty visits, reducing ED use and preventing hospital admissions and readmission.
But once you have an eConsult program in place, how do you measure the value of eConsults to your practice?