Becker’s ASC Review recently spoke with Erin Dettrey, the senior director of product management at Modernizing Medicine, to learn more about the role of technology in better serving patients at ASCs, why comprehensive communication tools are crucial and how leaders should evaluate new and future technologies.
Note: Responses edited for length and clarity.
Question: What trends are you seeing in ASCs this year, and how can technology help?
Erin Dettrey: ASCs are episodic. Though healthcare providers may attend to patients over extended periods, often spanning years or even decades, most patients seem to seek care at ASCs only a few times during their lifetimes. With that said, a single episode of care can span several weeks — from scheduling to preparation to day-of procedure to post-procedure care. Additionally, there is little face-to-face interaction with the patient until the day of the procedure. This underscores the need for episodic, but intensive, patient interaction.
We’re also seeing that financially responsible ASCs have been prioritizing employee recruitment and retention so they can continue to deliver top-notch care in a post-COVID-19 economy. In addition to competitive wages and benefits, entry-level professionals are often drawn to remote job opportunities in sectors that were traditionally dependent on face-to-face delivery, including medicine.
Given these evolving dynamics, ASCs need to adopt new communication tools to interact quickly and effectively with the patient through all phases of the ASC experience, while maximizing quality of care and delivering it in a fiscally responsible manner.
Q: What kind of gaps exist today that, if solved, would be industry changing?
ED: Current tools are often limited to specific aspects of the ASC lifecycle. For example, patients may self-select a provider or be routed through a referral system. This is usually initiated by their primary care providers through large EHR systems. Then, communication between the referring provider and the ASC is facilitated via direct messaging and Consolidated Clinical Document Architecture. However, this process is still highly dependent on manual labor, faxing and phone intake.
To help reduce these administrative burdens, some ASCs have turned to secure two-way messaging. This can help facilitate better communication between referring providers, ordering providers, primary care physicians and the ASC; between the patient and the ASC; and among the ASC staff. During these text-based conversations, images, PDFs, prep instructions, procedure consents and questionnaires can be exchanged in real time, helping to streamline check-in and improve coordination of care. Staff no longer need to be tied to an office phone line and can be utilized remotely to manage asynchronous messaging.
Through two-way messaging, patients can also confirm medical information, such as allergies, medications, family history and more. Ideally, this data syncs to the ASC software or EHR system, where it can be confirmed or edited, reducing redundant entry and encouraging data quality.
Q: How do you propose ASCs approach technology partnerships to address some of the issues we’ve discussed?
ED: ASCs need to consider vendor partnerships carefully and be certain they are positioned for this evolution, supporting not just simple texting with patients but also well-thought-out integrations and workflows within the ASC software and office EHR system.
Careful evaluation of future technologies should include how:
- Demographics are managed within the communication tools.
- Clinically relevant pieces move into the primary EHR without cluttering it with dozens and even hundreds of exchanges per patient.
- Internal messaging, such as communication between the front desk, nurse and certified registered nurse anesthetist are supported, while maintaining the continuity and context of the conversation.
- The inclusion of robust features can drive large-scale adoption; these include automated text-based reminders and patient self-scheduling, as well as the ability to make payments, complete forms and sign consents from the two-way messaging tool.
