Pediatric Dermatology E-Consults Found to be Effective and Well-Received

A recently published paper in the Journal of Pediatric Dermatology assessed electronic health records of pediatric patients referred through e-Consults at the Massachusetts General Hospital from 1/13/2020 to 7/17/2020 and reviewed confidential surveys taken by pediatricians and parents to assess receptiveness. The results of the study support the use of e-consult for pediatric dermatology and indicate that…

Read More

E-Consult for Rural Neurology

A new study explores he demand for neurology services at Geisinger, which exceeds the current clinical capacity. The utility of Ask-a-Doc (AAD), an electronic medical record-based interface developed at Geisinger to facilitate communication between primary care physicians (PCPs) and specialists, was implemented and assessed. It was found that AAD provides an interface between PCPs and…

Read More

Study Finds E-Consult an Effective tool for Pain Management

The recent retrospective cohort study, “Clinical Effectiveness of an Outpatient Multidisciplinary Chronic Pain Management Telementoring Service,” published in the Clinical Journal of Pain, demonstrates the effectiveness of e-consult in reducing opioid use. The pain e-consult program (PEP) used in the study is a multidisciplinary telementoring service based on the ECHO model. The findings indicate that…

Read More

E-Consult Associated with Increased Access to Safety Net Specialty Care

A recent study published in JAMA Health Forum analyzes 50,260 referral requests submitted during the year before and the year after e-consult implementation at 19 H+H specialty clinics in New York City. Researchers found that following e-consult implementation, 13% of referral requests were resolved electronically. Additionally, the percent of successfully scheduled in-person appointments increased 15.8%…

Read More

Addiction Medicine and Smartphone-Based E-Consult During the COVID-19 Lockdown

A recent study illustrated how the National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences (NIMHANS) Digital Academy, Bangalore, with the collaboration of Project ECHO worked throughout the pandemic to develop capacity for substance abuse disorder (SUD) management through telehealth, training over six thousand five hundred health care providers. The Centre of Addiction Medicine, NIMHANS initiated an…

Read More

Impact of Pediatric Electronic Consultations in a Federally Qualified Health Center

In this study of patients referred to pediatric cardiology, endocrinology or pulmonology at a federally qualified health center, the use of e-consults combined with evidence-based referral guidelines provided a useful tool to help front line pediatric primary care providers manage complex problems and identify those not needing to see a specialist in person. As a result, twenty-three…

Read More

Evaluation of the Effects of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Electronic Consultation Use in Primary Care

The use of e-consult has emerged as a useful tool for primary care providers (PCPs) to quickly obtain non-urgent, patient-specific, expert advice from specialists. The COVID-19 pandemic forced health systems to rapidly implement and scale telehealth alternatives to in-person care to prevent exposure to the contagious respiratory virus. A recent study from Massachusetts General Hospital…

Read More

Major Cost Savings Associated with VHA E-Consults

A study across the Veterans Health Administration (VHA) shows that e-consults improve access to specialty care, shorten wait times, and reduce outpatient visits. Across 11 specialties, patients receiving an e-consult had significantly lower health care costs compared with patients receiving a face-to-face consultation. This was largely driven by differences in outpatient costs. Patients receiving an e-consult had…

Read More