Health IT Facilitates Patient Engagement Across Many Settings

VBCC - May 2013, Volume 4, No 4 - Practice Management
Caroline Helwick

New Orleans, LA—“Patient engagement” is a healthcare buzz phrase, and a critical part of this concept is patient connectivity to information technology (IT). GetWellNetwork is a patient-focused IT system that aims to empower the patient to improve outcomes in a variety of disease states.

At the 2013 Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society annual conference, Michael O’Neil, Founder and CEO of GetWellNetwork, spoke with Value-Based Cancer Care about how patient engagement via health IT can improve clinical outcomes.
The company’s commitment to improve outcomes through patient engagement started with 1 patient and his cancer experience, explained Mr O’Neil, who was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin lymphoma in 1999. “I had a great medical outcome, but not such a great patient experience,” he said.

Mr O’Neil stated that while barraged by “information,” he still felt uninformed and insecure in making sound treatment decisions for his cancer. This gap in patient-centered information led to his idea for Interactive Patient Care, a personalized, intuitive, interactive patient-centered system that is delivered across multiple technology platforms, including mobile devices, computers, and televisions.

In the ongoing shift to a value-based healthcare economy, patient engagement has become even more critical to improving care and to organizational performance. Partnering with patients to strengthen communication and coordination is a key factor in success, Mr O’Neil stressed.

“There are now many IPC [Inter­active Patient Care] systems that are delivering on this promise,” he noted. Evidence-based data show that the use of Interactive Patient Care tools is improving patient satisfac­tion, clinical outcomes, and financial performance.

Interactive Patient Care products have reported, on average, a 22% increase in staff responsiveness, a 33% increase in well-controlled pain, a 22% reduction in heart failure readmission rate, a 6% decrease in length of stay, and a 22% reduction in falls. They have also gained $2.5 million in pharmacy revenue, according to company data.

The Value of Using Patient Tools in Oncology
“On the oncology side, we are working with several groups to understand how these tools can help deliver better outcomes in both the inpatient and outpatient settings,” Mr O’Neil said. The patient’s first introduction is often the touchscreen that he or she encounters while in the infusion chair.

Collaborations are under way with oncologists at The Institute for Cancer Care at Mercy Medical Center in Baltimore, MD, and at the Mario Lemieux Center for Blood Cancers at the Hillman Cancer Center of the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center Presbyterian Shadyside, PA.

“We are in partnership with these centers to develop a library of oncology pathways that will be tumor- and stage-specific,” he said.
“We want to make sure the cancer patient owns his journey,” Mr O’Neil emphasized. “In my experience, I got an incredible amount of new information, but I was not informed, not feeling in control, so trying to make decisions was very anxiety producing. I personally learned that when the patient is empowered to be involved in the process, it not only feels good, but the patient also gets better. The informed patient is a better patient.”

This system not only “educates,” but can enhance adherence to the care plan, including medication adherence, nutritional recommendations, and adverse event monitoring.

“Our tools will make sure the patient is locked in together with the providers on the plan of care, so there will be significantly less chance for mishaps and mistakes,” he said.

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