Aug. 31, 2021 In the Know with Your CMIO It’s hard to believe that we’re already entering the final stretch of 2021. Looking back, you’ve faced many challenges this year, including the recent COVID-19 resurgence. During it all, you’ve continued to embrace new technology and process changes — even newly implemented health care laws — while remaining focused on providing our patients with unparalleled care and a phenomenal experience. Several IT-related initiatives have helped us improve each patient’s experience across our system this year. Initiatives, such as changes made to align with 21st Century Cures Act requirements and Care Everywhere enhancements, have given our patients easier access to important health care data, improved their digital experience and kept them connected to their providers during a pandemic. In the coming months, I’m focusing on five key factors influencing health care transformation and the overall patient experience, including methods to help you navigate through an ever-changing health care landscape. These factors — improving patient's ease of access to important patient data, reducing administrative burdens, staying connected with patients, enhancing physician hospital engagement and delivering health care while tackling COVID-19 — will facilitate methods to help you thrive and provide your patients with the best health care experience. Dr. Nicholas Desai In This Issue All Providers
Inpatient Providers
Inpatient Providers and Radiologists
Ordering Providers
Outpatient Providers
All Providers Starting Wednesday, Sept. 1, a new state law goes into effect, allowing hospitalized patients to have at least one healthy visitor (18 years or older), except in emergency departments. To align with these new guidelines, we’ve updated our Visitor Policy. Important Note: If the attending physician deems it unsafe, they can restrict a COVID-19 or other infectious hospitalized patient from having a visitor (e.g., the in-person visit could lead to infectious disease transmission, posing a serious community health risk). For these cases, use the following workflow: 1. Write In-Person Visitation Restriction Order (Providers)
2. Provide Daily Updates to Restricted Visitors (Providers)
3. Send Daily Text Message Updates (Automatic)
Good to Know For All Providers At 8 p.m. on Wednesday, Sept. 1, Epic will experience a brief “system pause” for up to five minutes. During the pause:
If you have any issues, contact the IT Physician Help Desk, 832.667.5555. For All Providers Starting Thursday, Sept. 2, you can change your Secure Chat status to Unavailable — preventing anyone from sending you one-on-one messages and preventing you from sending Secure Chat messages to recipients marked Unavailable. This change will help mitigate some liability concerns for when you’re unavailable and can’t respond to messages — they can’t be sent to you. Note: The following will still be sent if your status is Unavailable:
For All Outpatient Providers Starting Tuesday, Sept. 21, Epic is offering four training sessions to help improve your Epic efficiency when caring for patients. Each session is offered three times,
For more information, including how to register, read this flyer from Epic. For All Providers The next Epic Update is Sunday, Oct. 24, showcasing useful new features and enhancements. To prepare, be sure to review your Update Companion. You can click the applicable links below or log in to Epic, and press F1 to go to the Epic Learning Home. Update Companion links by role: COVID-19 For All Providers Admitted patients are now required to receive a COVID-19 antibody titer test. The COVID-19 Serology Patient Surveillance order now automatically displays under the Admission Orders tab in Epic. Note: This order requires a provider signature during admission order reconciliation. For more information regarding COVID-19 Serology Patient Surveillance, read this statement from Dr. David W. Bernard, PhD. For All Providers Monoclonal injections (REGEN-COV) are now available at Josie Roberts for high-risk people who’ve been exposed to COVID-19 but don’t have a positive test.
Here are the details. REGEN-COV may be used as post-exposure prophylaxis for adults and children (age 12 and older, weighing at least 40 kg) who meet all three criteria:
REGEN-COV may also be used for individuals at high risk of exposure to someone with SARS-CoV-2 due to living in an institutional setting with other infected people (e.g., nursing homes or prisons). For All Inpatient Providers When a patient expresses interest in receiving a COVID-19 vaccine, a new BPA will display in the patient’s chart, if the patient:
Acknowledge Reason selections will result in the following actions:
Key Updates For All Providers The IllumiCare Smart Ribbon Resources app is now available. The Resources app provides one-click access to clinical reference guides for the patient you’re viewing. It also includes links to the HM Pharmacy Blue Book and the pain pocket card.
For videos and resources for other HM Smart Ribbon apps, go to this website. For All Providers The Mechanical Ventilation order has been updated to reflect the following:
For All Providers There’s a new SmartPhrase (.VTEHM) available allowing you to pull VTE orders into your documentation. Use this SmartPhrase for:
For Inpatient Providers and Radiologists The MRI approval process for unconscious patients is now available electronically, facilitating more efficient approval documentation and communication.
For All Ordering Providers There’s a new lung cancer screening scheduling process, making it easier for you to place Lung Cancer Screening (LCS) orders. You can now use your preferred format (e.g., paper, Epic or another EHR system) when placing these orders — you’re no longer required to use the HM-specific form. Important:
For All Providers Starting Friday, Sept. 3, when you receive a patient’s lab results from an outside source via Care Everywhere, you’ll now be able to review these results in Chart Review under the Labs tab. Note: Orderables, molecular results, microbiology results and results received from organizations in other countries won’t appear alongside your local results. You can still find these in Care Everywhere documents sent from other organizations. Reminders For All Physicians, Residents and APPs For All Providers For All Providers For All Providers For All Providers For All Inpatient Ordering Providers For All Inpatient Obstetricians For All HMSL and HMWB Providers Ways to Reach IT IT Physician Help Desk:
Houston Methodist IT Website for Physicians: |