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…

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Central Valley Health Network February 2021 Meeting

The Central Valley Health Network’s February 2021 meeting featured a presentation on the Central Valley e-Consult Coalition work to support clinics and health systems in the region by providing no-cost access to electronic consult (e-consult) in order to improve Medi-Cal patient access to specialty care and enhance care coordination between primary providers and specialists. View…

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E-Consult: Safe and Equitable Coordination of Specialty Care

Michelle Lee, MD, and Vinod Nambudiri, MD of Partners Healthcare, MA, recently published, Electronic Consultations for Safe and Equitable Coordination of Virtual Outpatient Specialty Care.   This article, published in the Journal of Applied Clinical Informatics, argues that eConsults can improve the transition of care between primary care and specialists. The authors cite previous clinical studies to highlight how eConsults can improve the relationship and communication between PCPs and specialists and improve PCP education, patient access…

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The Vascular eConsult: Useful and Efficient

A study titled The Vascular eConsult: An Efficient, Useful, and Economical Tool for Primary Care Physicians to Interact With a Vascular Specialist, for Proper Care of the Vascular Patient by Ottawa researchers from the Ontario eConsult Program reviewed 846 cases that had been submitted for a vascular surgery e-consult between 2014 to 2016. Each case included mandatory…

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September 2020 E-Consult Workgroup Webinar

The September E-Consult Workgroup webinar featured Dr. Shalina Nair and Candy Magaña of the Ohio State University (OSU) Wexner Medical Center who discussed the OSU’s Clinical Transformation in Technology Framework to quickly expand telehealth in response to the COVID-10 pandemic. In addition, Dr. Alpesh Amin, Chair, Department of Medicine, UC Irvine School of Medicine presented on…

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August 2020 E-Consult Workgroup Webinar

This month’s webinar started with an insightful presentation by Danielle Oryn, MD, CEO of Redwood Community Health Coalition(RCHC) about an e-consult pilot initiated in April 2020 to address the lack of specialist care access providers were experiencing during the pandemic. Then Stanley Dea, MD of LA County Department of Health Services presented a review of…

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Pandemic Changes what Doctor’s Visits Look Like

In this opinion piece, Dr. Barnett argues that fewer visits caused by the pandemic is a much needed and welcome change in managing patients’ healthcare. https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2020/05/11/after-pandemic-visiting-doctor-will-never-be-same-thats-fine/

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E-Consult Saves Time and Expense

Communication between primary doctors and specialists using e-consult reduces delays in specialty care and decreases costs. https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/18/upshot/when-email-comes-to-the-doctors-office-wait-times-decrease.html

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