We’re All Connected – Interoperable EHRs and Healthcare Data

As telehealth in healthcare becomes increasingly prevalent, it is vital to ensure interoperability in EHRs. An interoperable environment is one in which patient information is shared across different systems and providers allows for better workflows and minimizes ambiguity. It ensures that all care providers can seamlessly access healthcare data, leading to better care. It also allows big data in healthcare to be managed effectively, driving meaningful, data-based decisions in the industry.

Sandy Vance of the InteropNow! Podcast recently sat down with Ophir Lotan, TytoCare’s VP of Product and Customer Success, and Dr. Nick Patel, Chief Digital Officer for Prisma Health in South Carolina, to discuss the role of remote, home-based telehealth in interoperability. Here’s what they had to say.

As Ophir shared, TytoCare is the only telehealth solution that enables total virtual care with remote physical exams that go beyond just video. It differs from traditional telehealth offerings because it so closely emulates in-person clinical visits that it revolutionizes what home telehealth had previously been capable of. By connecting the physical and virtual spheres of care with a simple-to-adopt device, TytoCare allows for reliable diagnoses and prescriptions, providing optimal care and reducing ED diversion.

When it comes to EHR integration, TytoCare is ahead of the curve. It enhances clinical workflows, with EHR tools for documenting and prescribing available alongside TytoCare’s interface and exams. It helps consumers maximize their use of the digital front door while cutting back on the number of apps they need to use. It also improves care coordination by ensuring that the healthcare data analytics generated during a visit are readily available for follow-up and other specialist visits.

Dr. Patel went on to discuss how TytoCare had already been on the scene several years before the COVID-19 pandemic. People have come to realize that not all virtual solutions are alike. Zooms and video calls have their place for meetings, but for meaningful telehealth, a reliable virtual solution must provide the same level of service as its physical counterpart. Dr. Patel mentioned some key features that allow TytoCare to do just that: simple to schedule appointments; a virtual waiting room in which patients learn more about their condition; the ability for doctors to speak with their patients and build authentic rapport; and high-quality exam images on which doctors can reliably base their diagnoses.

Dr. Patel delved further into how value-based care keeps patients out of ERs. He shared that at Prisma Health, for example, TytoCare allows for earlier hospital discharges while maintaining high-fidelity follow-up monitoring of patients’ lungs, blood oxygen level, blood pressure, and heart rate.

When it comes to wellness care and proactive care between visits, the reliable healthcare data TytoCare provides can manage patient health continuously. It can detect minor escalations or changes and ensures that conditions don’t become acute or require extended hospital care. Not only does the data provide better detection tools to physicians, but it also allows consumers to make sound decisions based on their own exam results and symptoms.

As Dr. Patel explained, TytoCare enables Prisma Health to unify healthcare data streams that inform population health management. Integrated data allows clinicians to develop a roadmap for patients’ future healthcare plans. Prisma Health sees the potential to expand TytoCare to student healthcare, employer programs, digital check-ins for high-risk patients, and more. TytoCare has improved Prisma Health’s brand loyalty and helped Prisma Health to meet its KPIs.

When asked to describe how doctors feel about TytoCare, Dr. Patel said that it improves the work-life balance for doctors, allowing them to cover more diagnoses and provide quality remote care while avoiding burnout. The intuitive, well-designed platform is one that doctors want to adopt. Ophir added that as VPC is picking up, healthcare providers must embrace a hybrid model that encompasses virtual and physical care.

To finish up the interview, Sandy mentioned that the healthcare provided at urgent care centers and ambulatory sites tends to be disjointed, and asked whether TytoCare supports the centralization of care. Dr. Patel explained how crucial it is that patients have a home base for their care. Linked healthcare data informs your main provider of services you’ve already received. TytoCare enables a massive consolidation of care. It provides cleaner data, avoids giving patients unnecessary or redundant tests, and ensures that primary care doctors remain informed. Data uniformity allows for ideal, patient-centered digital telehealth.

Learn more about how TytoCare enables interoperability in telehealth. Listen to the full podcast here.