Refyne Connected Care Supports Virtual Collaboration among Montana Pediatricians
Background
Connected Care for the Medically Underserved
Recent studies show that nearly 80 percent of rural America is medically underserved, with factors such as geography and time constraints limiting access to quality healthcare. Families living in care deserts, or regions located 60 minutes or more from an acute-care facility, face increased health risks due to lack of care continuity. This situation is particularly dangerous for children with chronic conditions and medical complexities, a fast-growing subpopulation of seriously ill patients according to the Children’s Hospital Association.
Montana Pediatrics sought to improve both quality and access to care by joining the forces of practicing pediatricians across the state. Providers collaborated with the objective of giving families access to high quality, locally-informed pediatric care wherever and whenever it was needed. The group’s challenge was that clinicians were disconnected and siloed by disparate systems across an expansive geography. To effectively reach and care for more children, they needed a technical and administrative bridge to connect with each other and with families, creating partnerships across a virtual space.
Solution
Refyne Connected Care
Montana Pediatrics established its provider network model based around the concept of technologically connected care aligning not just the patient and physician but also a range of specialists across the state. Technology became the backbone to link clinicians across a vast geography, encompassing a wide range of practices, health networks and EHR (electronic health record) systems.
Montana Pediatrics implemented Refyne Connected Care™, a technology platform from Vyne Medical that provides a virtual space for clinicians to collaborate in care planning and delivery. The platform is unique in its approach, with a design that is simultaneously patient-centered and provider-driven.
Shared care planning. The technology provides a virtual space where parents, patients and providers can all contribute, enabling users to aggregate information from the entire care team to ensure continuity of care.
Prioritizing patient care. The platform gives patients the option of providing a limited amount of data at the time of access, understanding that billing information may not be on-hand at the time care is needed. The primary goal is caring for the patient rather than addressing billing capacity.
Usability. The starting point is patient usability, with a defining design principle being ease of use to a concerned parent holding a sick child in the middle of the night. This means a simple, straight-forward design with clear steps to quickly access care.
EHR transcendent. All providers work together in a single system, adding relevant clinical information as needed. Incorporating the patient voice, as well as data from external providers and clinics, helps overcome gaps and discrepancies often found in the medical record.
Separates signal from noise. Patient data is presented clearly and is purposely formatted to inform care at the moment of need. The platform gives clinicians the key pieces of information they need without requiring a lengthy search through volumes of aggregated data.
Flexibility. Rather than forcing providers to configure data to set fields or drop-down menus, the software offers flexibility and features an intuitive, human-centered interface designed to be responsive to the care team.
Easy set-up. The cloud-based solution doesn’t require a data center or on-premises installation. Provider setup is quick, making it easy to connect with patients.
“Refyne Connected Care has given Montana Pediatrics a virtual space to collaborate across disciplines, technology systems and geographic boundaries,” said Chelsea Bodnar, MD, MPhil. “By building connections among providers, patients and families, the technology has helped us close gaps in access to care and preserve the patient-physician relationship in the local communities we serve.”
Refyne Connected Care Functionality
The patient-centered, provider-driven Refyne Connected Care™ platform from Vyne Medical helps solve the daily challenges of care collaboration for pediatricians as well as their patients and families. Shared care plans give providers comprehensive access to all the information needed during or after office hours, in the same medical group or beyond. Intuitive workflows help facilitate process compliance, provider handoffs and care best practices.
Much more than a telemedicine platform, Refyne Connected Care is pediatrician-designed and supports the following functionality for pediatricians and other providers:
- Virtual walk-in visits and scheduled appointments for patients/parents/caregivers
- Shared care plans to coordinate care among providers within or outside organization
- Single, unified solution to organize multiple facets of patient care delivery
- User-friendly telemedicine tool to manage provider/ patient/caregiver communications
- Remote care offered through local school-based health clinics • After-hours/urgent care visit information incorporated for follow-up
To learn more about Refyne Connected Care, contact us to schedule a call with one of our solution experts.