In March 2020, our customers began experiencing the COVID-19 patient surge; first in population centers, later the rural areas. Experts advised urgent action as early as January, but while the US struggled to coordinate a response our customers could no longer wait. The technology they use daily for value-based care coordination – Central Worklist – would soon become a cornerstone of their COVID-19 response.
St. Clair Hospital in Pittsburg, Pennsylvania started developing the outline of a Central Worklist program to monitor COVID-19 patients. They knew the tool could be rapidly customized to support their care teams and replace the Excel and paper lists that were failing to meet their needs. For the program to be effective it had to convert CDC/WHO guidelines into task and decision support for the care team. This is when they reached out to us for assistance.
In fewer than two days the Cedar Gate team had documented the protocols to identify, manage, monitor, and discharge patients. Four days later, eight healthcare organizations were live, trained, and using our COVID-19 Patient Monitoring program.
As of this writing, more than 35,000 patients have been enrolled, nearly 10,000 patients are under active monitoring.
[Cedar Gate] actually came to us during the COVID-19 issue and put together a program to help us do tracking. They did some research and worked with the CDC to get that program implemented before we even knew that we wanted it.
-Analyst/Coordinator, April 2020, KLAS Research User Commentary
While we worked to deploy COVID-19 Patient Monitoring at systems across the country, a new problem emerged: the crippling effect of healthcare personnel exposure. Another customer, St. Mary’s Hospital in rural Idaho, recognized the impact this could have on its finite workforce. The need for a new workflow was communicated to Us. Again, within four days a new program was developed and deployed: COVID-19 Healthcare Personnel Exposure Tracking. Like Patient Monitoring, this program also adheres to CDC guidance, and includes decision support and tasking designed specifically for non-clinical staff to track exposed and infected healthcare workers.
[Cedar Gate] saved our life, period. [Cedar Gate]’s ability to be proactive about COVID-19 was amazing.
-Director, April 2020, KLAS Research User Commentary
States are already lifting restrictions and opening economies, and outbreaks will likely continue until a vaccine is developed. We are looking ahead to identify the need to engage directly with individuals for health screenings – a daily health pass. We’ve developed a mobile care plan that makes patients a part of the care team to facilitate daily screenings. I will also accept a range of relevant patient generated data. This will add depth to the patient profile and precision to care plan protocols.
In a pandemic response, care coordination tech is essential for teams to monitor status, deliver remote care, and aggregate data across clinics, testing centers and hospitals. Connecting patient-generated data to care coordinator programs can further increase efficiency and accuracy.
Codifying guidelines from the CDC and WHO into care coordination tools for task and decision support ensures the most current evidence drives care team actions.
The COVID-19 crisis is ongoing and evolving, and similar pandemics will arise in the future. Enabling care coordination technology needs to be flexible, adapting rapidly as new needs arise and guidance is issued.
It should be noted that hospitals and health systems are currently experiencing unprecedented financial pressure as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. As restrictions ease, recovering lost revenue will be the top priority. The features that make Central Worklist an effective tool for COVID-19 management are used for dozens of health risk and chronic conditions for which CMS and private payers have developed value-based care reimbursement.
If you have questions about how care coordination tech can accelerate revenue recovery, please reach out. learnmore@cedargate.com
