Saint Luke's Health System (SLHS) in Kansas City, Mo., is boosting its care coordination through an automated ordering process that links it ambulatory physicians with hospital and freestanding reference laboratories, imaging centers and patients.
SLHS is using technology called Connected Orders from Atlanta-based RelayHealth to help them bridge the information gaps that can exist between inpatient and outpatient care. RelayHealth is also SLHS's health information exchange (HIE) partner.
"RelayHealth's Connected Orders fits perfectly with our clinical integration and HIE goals," said Deborah Gash, vice president and chief information officer at Saint Luke's Health System. "It minimizes the administrative and technical burden of managing multiple workflows in the ordering process, and it provides an accurate record of orders for revenue capture. Another plus is that the solution encourages stronger collaboration among our community physicians. Physicians and their staff like having the ability to track each order's status to ensure that the patient completes the procedure and receives the results. This is an important step in improving the quality of our healthcare delivery."
Within SLHS's 11-hospital network, Connected Orders is known as the "Closed Loop Service" feature of the health system's HIE. Doctors at Midwest Pulmonary Consultants, PC, and Saint Luke's Multispecialty Clinic are entering orders online via this service, which initiates a succession of automated actions. First, the Saint Luke's Outpatient Imaging Center staff receives the order from the physician and calls or sends an electronic message to the patient to schedule the appointment. After the test is completed the physician is notified, the results are sent to the physician, and the physician has the option of releasing the results with comments electronically to the patient.
More than 15 other organizations across the nation are currently using RelayHealth Connected Orders, part of the company's expanding portfolio of clinical integration connectivity solutions that support HIE capabilities. Physicians with or without an EMR can use the Web-based solution to place orders for diagnostic tests, medications, patient care and referrals. Hospitals and health systems can offer the service to physicians enrolled on the RelayHealth network and to unenrolled doctors who can access the solution as a stand-alone module viewable through an Internet browser.
"Connected Orders broadens the breadth of our clinical, financial, administrative and patient applications, and expands the value of our connectivity network," said Jim Bodenbender, president of RelayHealth Connectivity Solutions. "Orders are a critical HIE component for organizations striving to create connected healthcare communities. RelayHealth establishes a foundation from which provider organizations can adapt to changing business, payment, and care models. We appreciate the efforts of Saint Luke's Health System, our development partner, in helping us to create a complete solution that unifies the many care points to ensure that the patient is more fully engaged and orders are tracked and test results are received in a timely manner."
