SPHE and WPHIMSS present

eHealth Strategy: Patient-Physician Communication
Thursday, March 3, 2005
5:30 PM, Hospital Council of Western Pennsylvania (Warrendale)
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Dr. Robert Schwartz, Medical Director, UPMC Physician Relations
Jody Cervenak, C.I.O., Physician Services Division of UPMC

Description:  The Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONCHIT) has set a plan action consisting of four sequential main goals: informing clinicians, interconnecting them, personalizing care, and thus improving population health.  The common theme across all of these goals is the need to improve communication between physicians and patients, and clinicians across care sites.  The University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC) has taken steps to implement an enhanced communication framework to improve the flow of information across the continuum of care.  The communication framework integrates information from the electronic health record (eRecord) and other critical information sources and delivers information to patients and physicians. The goal is to deliver the "right" information, to the "right" person, in the "right" way and at the "right" time.  Thus, the delivery of information is driven off of a set of heuristics and preferences to support accurate and appropriate delivery of clinical information.  This communication framework is a key component of UPMC's eHealth strategy, informing both patients and clinicians with (1) information about their health that is relevant and timely, (2) support in setting personal goals, (3) tools to help them track their progress and manage their healthcare, (4) access to critical data from their medical records such as their medication list, problem list, and test results, (5) reminders and alerts that preventative measures are due, and (6) the ability to contact their physicians' offices electronically to facilitate efficient communication.