Enhancing Visibility of Patient Contact Information During Disasters

During large-scale disasters such as weather-related events, individuals with access and functional needs may require special assistance. Disaster management planning must include equipping health officials with solutions that provide clear visibility into contact information for these individuals, though this has remained a challenge.

Many community emergency assistance registries require people to sign up or opt-in, and participants’ information may not be current when it is needed. The Patient Unified Lookup System (PULSE) offers a unique solution to help emergency officials bridge data gaps for more effective support of vulnerable populations.

Enhancing Current Tools With PULSE

An important disaster planning and response solution available to health officials is the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) emPOWER Program. emPOWER leverages Medicare claims data into tools, training, and resources to help states, territories, and localities improve continuity of care and health outcomes for millions of at-risk individuals prior to, during, and after an incident, emergency, or disaster.

The emPOWER data is de-identified, and provides monthly updated total counts for Medicare beneficiaries who rely on a certain essential health care service(s) and one or more electricity-dependent DME and devices, down to the ZIP Code level. In the event of an emergency or disaster, only statutorily authorized state or territorial public health authorities that meet certain requirements may be eligible to obtain the restricted HHS emPOWER Emergency Response Outreach Individual Dataset which contains individual-level data to support critical life-saving assistance and response outreach public health activities.

By leveraging the Patient Unified Lookup System (PULSE) Patient Search application in conjunction with other data such as community registries and emPOWER, public health and emergency response officials can help ensure that locating and assisting patients during disasters is as effective as possible.

Leveraging Data to Enable Life-Saving Outreach

Under certain use cases, PULSE’s Patient Search application can be used to complement the HHS emPOWER Emergency Response Outreach Dataset to locate, contact, and assist people during disasters who may have access and functional needs.

An example of this is how the Oregon Department of Human Services (ODHS), a state human services authority, has used PULSE during wildfires to perform life-saving advance outreach to individuals identified in the emPOWER Emergency Response Outreach Dataset.

ODHS found that some records in the emPOWER dataset did not contain a current phone number and/or address. PULSE’s Patient Search application was able to help fill in the data gaps and enable lifesaving outreach to these individuals.

Leveraging PULSE for Multiple Disaster Scenarios

This past winter, there were back-to-back severe ice storms forecast for several of Oregon’s counties. In anticipation of this severe storm and any associated power outages, ODHS borrowed a lesson learned from their advance wildfire outreach and requested the emPOWER Emergency Response Outreach Dataset for those counties’ residents. They quickly got to work filling in phone number and address gaps using PULSE.

Data was received for four counties, and targeted zip codes were used to perform immediate outreach for those on power-dependent oxygen devices. In Linn County, ODHS searched over 200 names from emPOWER within 48 hours and securely provided the information to the county. The county then used their call center to conduct outreach by phone, and if no contact was made, a first responder went out to knock on their door. In this instance, PULSE was able to help the county complete 75% of their missing dataset.

Over the course of sixteen days, emergency response officials from the four counties searched over 7,350 names from emPOWER in PULSE, allowing ODHS to direct emergency personnel from multiple responding agencies to conduct more effective live-saving outreach.

Where Does PULSE Data Come From?

The PULSE Patient Search application leverages the national health information exchange networks, which cover more than 75% of hospitals, 80% of pharmacies, 77% of dialysis centers, and several federal agencies, including the Department of Veterans Affairs and the Department of Defense. Medical records returned for patients via these sources have often been found to have an updated phone number and/or address. During the Oregon ice storm, many addresses were found for those individuals who only had post office boxes listed in their emPOWER data record from CMS.

HHS and its Administration for Strategic Preparedness & Response (ASPR) are clear on their directives for addressing the access and functional needs of individuals at risk during a crisis. They state, “During a disaster or emergency, public health and medical professionals need to take action to protect the health of at-risk individuals. In addition, public health professionals and medical providers are often required by law or executive order to address the needs of at-risk individuals during disasters and emergencies.”

The use of tools like PULSE’s Patient Search application is clearly essential to meet those needs, and as illustrated by ODHS’ use of PULSE, can be leveraged across multiple scenarios to improve outcomes for at-risk populations.

Expanding the Ability to Improve Outcomes in Communities

PointClickCare’s PULSE Enterprise solutions, including Patient Search, are optimized for the unique demands of field conditions to reduce burden on providers, support high-quality care for patients, and accelerate the return to routine care.

With secure access to patient health information, organizations can be assured that patient data is delivered when and where it is needed during disasters, backed by PointClickCare’s proven industry expertise and support.

Contact us today to learn about our PULSE Enterprise-backed emergency preparedness and response programs in your state, or download our PULSE eBook for more details to help you devise effective strategies for disaster response.