A new tool which provides HIPAA-compliant mobile communication systems to deliver essential, timely medical information is now in the hands of teams of professionals at the Eskenazi Health Center Healthy Aging Brain Center and Eskenazi Health Center Aging Brain Care Medical Home. The technology is believed to be one of the first systems of its kind to deliver admission, discharge and transfer (ADT) alerts to providers’ mobile devices.
The new technology from Diagnotes, Inc., an Indianapolis-based health technology company, enables care coordinators in the two centers to receive secure alerts directly to their smartphones, tablets and laptops whenever their patients are admitted, discharged or transitioned from hospitals or other medical facilities.
“Diagnotes adds another dimension to our care coordination model by implementing a proactive notification and alert system,” said Dr. Malaz Boustani, medical director of the Eskenazi Health Center Healthy Aging Brain Center.
Dr. Boustani, a Regenstrief Institute investigator and Indiana University School of Medicine faculty member, who along with Dr. Christopher Callahan, of the Regenstrief Institute and IU School of Medicine, led the peer-reviewed research at IU’s Center for Aging Research that developed the Aging Brain Care model. Preliminary data has shown that the Aging Brain Care model has helped result in cost savings and also reduced emergency department visits and hospital admissions and readmissions at Eskenazi Health. The centers have cared for more than 2,000 Indiana adults with Alzheimer’s disease, dementia or depression since opening in 2008.
“Our mobile communication system identifies admission, discharge and transfer events for all Eskenazi Health Center Healthy Aging Brain Center patients and goes into action to immediately alert the assigned care coordinator,” Dr. Boustani said. “The Diagnotes system pulls the patient’s medical record from Eskenazi Health’s electronic medical record (EMR) system and sends a summary of that information along with the alert to the care coordinator’s mobile device, so the coordinator is fully informed and able to notify appropriate care team members to respond to the immediate situation.”
The Diagnotes system monitors admission, discharge and transfer events as reported by member institutions throughout the state to the Indiana Health Information Exchange (IHIE) and Eskenazi Health, Dr. Boustani explained.
Dr. Michael LaMantia, medical director of the Eskenazi Health Center Aging Brain Care Medical Home, a Regenstrief Institute investigator and IU School of Medicine faculty member, explained that the technology allows real-time tracking of patient outcomes and program-related process measures to be pushed directly to physicians. He said this direct access to information can be very useful while a physician treats and cares for a patient.
“Our implementation at Eskenazi Health provides a completely integrated mobile communication system to the care team model,” explained David B. Wortman, Diagnotes’ chairman, CEO and co-founder. “Diagnotes is securely pushing essential data to the right people at the right time, wherever those people may be. Because the information is sent to the individual’s preferred device – smartphone, tablet or laptop – it is available for immediate retrieval. The care coordinator is alerted and receives critical information anytime, anywhere. Diagnotes’ goal is to help reduce health care costs by giving the Eskenazi Health Center team the tools they need to further reduce avoidable hospital readmissions. ”
Care coordinators, who serve as liaisons between the patients and caregivers, primary care physicians, specialty care providers, and community resources, are the first members of the medical team to implement the Diagnotes system, but program administrators anticipate other providers will be added to the user pool later this year.
