TriHealth

Like many health systems, TriHealth, was looking for a way to maintain an exceptional level of care for their patients. Administrative work was becoming a tedious, often convoluted process that was taking them away from their main mission — patient care. To prioritize their patients and increase the efficiency of their business, they needed to find a solution that met their needs and their patients’ needs.

The Goal

TriHealth wanted to find an automated solution to share patient data between institutions in order to save time and let their clinicians focus on what mattered most, caring for patients. They needed continuity-of-care forms, automated data entry in the EHR, search capabilities, and they needed it all in one seamless, automatic, and secure solution. Previously, when a patient was discharged to a skilled nursing facility, their data didn’t flow with them which caused gaps in care or miscommunications between the care teams.

The Solution

PAC Network Management by Collective Medical, a PointClickCare Company, provided TriHealth a way to eliminate silos among and between care settings while gaining clinical insights that can help mitigate risks after a discharge into post-acute care. “PAC Network Management facilitates the seamless, automatic flow of patient data between our acute and post-acute care institutions,” said Lori Baker, Director, TriHealth. “This means that when a patient is transferred from the hospital to a skilled nursing facility, their data is sent with them. This continuity helps to make processes more efficient for our staff and provide families with accurate information to make the best transition decisions for their loved ones, through a single, secure platform.”

Improved Visibility, Collaboration and Outcomes

TriHealth deployed the PAC Network Management pilot project with five of their facilities during the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic. Those participating locations agreed to complete all transitions of care communications between the acute setting and long-term care partners via the EHR.

“With any integration, it’s not always 100% right away,” Baker noted. “That said, 83% of EHR transfers using the PointClickCare integration were successful between March and April of 2020. We consider this to be highly impressive, especially considering the large volume of patients that we were transferring at the time due to COVID-19.” TriHealth also saw 6.7% lower readmissions in participating facilities. These early successes provided the conviction to expand the use of PAC Network Management. Today PAC Network Management is fully deployed in in 45 facilities with more in progress.

The new process is more efficient for staff, giving clinicians back precious time to focus on care for their patients. It also provides case managers with accurate information to make the best transition decisions for patients.

The integration also allowed TriHealth to better handle the complexities of the pandemic and considering the success during those very trying times, they were convinced this was the right approach to help them and their network partners improve the transition process. “Improving outcomes for all stakeholders involved in the care journey has always been our goal, and especially while navigating the uncertainties of the COVID-19 pandemic. PointClickCare has helped us to realize that goal,” said Baker.