Intenal Connected Care

When I think of Connected Care I think of it in three parts:  Internal Connected Care, External Connected Care and Consumer Connected Care.  Today I want to discuss Internal Connected Care.  When I talk about internal connected care I am talking about connecting what were previously independent silos of information in a healthcare organization.   For example, If you can integrate your schedulers, with your front desk, with your clinical staff and finally with your billing department you will make your organization more efficient.  If your system can connect the clinical process with the financial (i.e. require the correct progress note before a service is billed) you will reduce internal overhead.  We have heard repeated stories from clients who have increased their revenues significantly after implementation of an EHR because they were now cpaturing services, and billing for them, that had fallen through the cracks previously.

Yet internal connected care does not stop there.  As we strive to improve the efficacy and outcomes of the treatment provided, implementing electronic medication mamangement systems like e-prescribing and computerized physician order entry (CPOE) allows the clinician to check for adverse drug interactions and to reduce clinical errors caused by transcription or handwriting errors between the physician and the pharmacist. When you add document scanning and management to the mix, you allow the clinical staff to have the best quality information when they need it. 

Internal connected care is designed to increase communication internally to an organization, to remove friction from the process and to allow for the provisioin of the highest level of clinical care possible in the most efficient manner.

I would like to hear your views of internal connected care and how you have implemented systems that help provide higher quality care.