The digital age has brought forth many breakthroughs in healthcare management, and among these innovations, Outpatient App’s Virtual Health Management (VHM) System is one that has been tailored for the specific needs of the Military Health System (MHS) to help modernize workflows.
A major new Outpatient App highlight is the new Provider On-Call Coordination (POCC) module which is fully integrated with the Provider-to-Provider consult and referral system. POCC enables Administrators and Providers to:
- Quickly set up on-call shifts for any department
- Efficiently assign or change on-call assignments and easily view who’s on call at the Medical Treatment Facility (MTF) any time for any Medical Service on any connected device
- Get rid of antiquated physical pager systems that cause communication and health care delays
- Receive routed consults automatically when on-call
The Provider On-Call Coordination feature saves Health Care Providers hundreds of hours of time each year and enables Patients to receive the correct care more quickly.
Quickly Set Up On-Call Shift Schedules for Your Medical Service
In working with MTFs big and small, Outpatient App has learned that there isn’t a one-size-fits-all way that call schedules are set up and managed. Some departments run 2 on-call shifts a day with an overnight. Others have a weekly on-call schedule that shifts at a specific time the following week. Outpatient App has built a system with easy options for any permissioned administrator to set up the shift schedule that works best for their department.
As part of the Customer Onboarding process, Base Administrator(s) use the Outpatient App’s Base Setup module to build out the On-Call Schedule “scaffolding” for each Medical Service the MTF has. By day of the week, simply set Start and End times for each shift you wish to create, including overnight, using Outpatient App’s intuitive user interface. Once the Medical Service’s “scaffolding” is created, any permissioned staff member can assign Providers to On-Call shifts.
Example of Setting Up Pediatrics On-Call Shifts at JBSA Wilford Hall from Base Setup.
Efficiently Assign, Change and View the On-call Schedule
Once the on-call shift scaffolding has been created, it is very easy to assign Providers to on-call shifts. From any device, any permissioned staff member can go to their Outpatient App Home/On-Call screen to assign, view or change the on-call provider for a Medical Service’s call shift.
Whether you want to assign all of your shifts all-at-once, or do it in multiple sessions, it’s easy to set them up. Just select your MTF and Medical Service, then select the date range from the calendar. All the shifts that were created in the Base Setup process will appear. Simply select which provider will be on call for each shift – you can even assign Primary, Secondary or Alternate on-call for a given shift.
If changes to the Call Schedule are needed, the Outpatient App allows permissioned administrators to make real-time updates to the on-call roster at any time. Simply return to the On-Call Schedule screen and select a different Provider for the shift you want to re-assign. The new on-call Provider will be notified (see “Get rid of antiquated pagers” section for more details).
Any permissioned medical staff member can view this On-Call Schedule from any connected device. No more fumbling around with post-it notes, or calling someone at the MTF to look up on a spreadsheet who’s on call, or calling the department head to check on the schedule for next week. With a single tap, send a message or place a call to the on-call provider’s phone number to contact them.
Get rid of antiquated Pagers
In some MTFs, physical pagers are the most reliable and commonly used way to communicate with the on-call provider. At Outpatient App, this makes us nostalgic, but a little sad that our military providers have to carry another device and also that valuable minutes and hours are added to the communication pathways to get patients the care they need.
Instead of handing a pager off to the next on-call physician, or leaving it at the hospital to be picked up, Outpatient App built a virtual pager system that notifies on-call providers when they are “up next” on their mobile phones, ensuring seamless transitions between shifts. A provider will always be on call – no misplaced pagers, no confusion as to who should have the pager, no phone tag to get to the person you need to speak with!
In the event of an personal emergency or unforeseen circumstance, the incoming on-call physician can even re-assign their on-call shift to a colleague, right from their mobile phone.
This real-time virtual pager system is crucial, especially when swift action can sometimes make the critical difference in healthcare outcomes.
It’s Automatic – Integrated with Digital Consult System
Setting up and maintaining the On-Call Schedule is easy and has a ton of benefits on its own, as highlighted above. An additional benefit though, is that the POCC is automatically integrated with the virtual consult system in the Outpatient App. Whenever a provider requests a consult with another medical service, the request will automatically be routed to the medical service’s current Provider on-call. In this way, without having to know who’s on call prior to sending the consult request, providers can securely communicate with each other to gather more information, send critical photos or questions, close out consults, and generally provide more timely, better healthcare to the patient population.
Outpatient App knows it is also important to display who’s on call, in general. That is one reason the Home/On-Call screen is easy to access by any medical staff member. Additionally, any provider that is on-call will also be badged throughout the Outpatient App system for as long as they’re scheduled. It will save providers from always having to go check the Call Schedule to see who’s on call – it’s possible they’re already chatting with them in the App.
In conclusion, the POCC features in the Outpatient App stand out as revolutionary tools in the Military Health System’s communication and coordination system, helping to bring modernization and efficiency. These virtual healthcare features also have the potential to be game changers for broader health systems globally. From the streamlined on-call schedule lookup calendar to the ultra-fast virtual pager, the Outpatient App is poised to drastically improve the provider-to-provider communication process, making healthcare more efficient and responsive than ever before.
